Cirque de Abyss
by Erodairis Jareth
Summary: AU Luke, tired of the life of a Noble, ran away from his home. He soon found himself at a circus called Cirque de Auldrant. But after Joining, how long can he keep his Noble blood a secret? Long enough to help the circus face their rivals The Gods Circus?
1. 1: Running to the Circus

Okie, all of the characters belong to Namco.  
Except for Erika, she is MY original character**.**

/_Thinking_\

* * *

"I don't wanna inherit this...stuff." Luke told his parents, standing from the table in the Drawing Room where he'd been sitting, "I want to see if I could get an actual job. Y'know, become something!"

"You _will_ become something, and that is a Noble of this country," his father barked, "And I will hear no more of this."

"But--!"  
"No more!"

"Then--...Then...Then I'll run away!" Luke yelled defiantly, refusing to let his dreams be destroyed so easily, "I'll run away and make something of my life, and it'll be more than just sitting on a fancy chair and distributing orders!"

"Don't be ridiculous," his father told him, "You wouldn't last a day outside the city walls."

"Yes I would!" he argued, "I've had good sword training! I'll do fine! I'm leaving!"  
"I've heard enough of this."

"You'll see!" Luke yelled at his parents, "You'll be sorry when I'm gone!"

"Luke, honey," his mother, Susanne, started, "Please--Think about what your older brother would say if he was still here--!"

"My brother ran away because of dad too!" Luke exclaimed,

"Susanne," his father ordered, "Responding will only egg him on further."

"I hate you both!" Then the Noble's son ran out of the drawing room, running to his room and throwing some clothes in a bag. After grabbing his trusty sword he took off out of the manor.

-----------------------------------------------

"Stupid parents...they don't even try to understand me...!!" Luke grumbled, kicking a rock in his way as he left the capital city, Barluu. His waist-length red hair somewhat messy from the sloppy brushing he did in an hour earlier in an attempt to tame it. "Wonder where I should go... now...?" He noticed a large shape in the distance...a silhouette of some sort. /_Hmm..._\ Upon getting closer he heard faint music playing, and his eyes lit up in realization. "The circus, alright!"

Outside the huge yellow and red striped tent was a large board. On the top, in huge blue letters outlined in white, it said 'The Amazing: Cirque de Auldrant'. Just under the words a small teal-and-white...creature in a maroon top hat rode on the head of a flying rappig, holding up a small magician's wand enthusiastically. Below the flying rappig was a man with sandy-gold hair wearing a white top-hat; he was pointing forward, out of the poster, almost commandingly. Under him it said, 'Directed by: Ringmaster Peony'

Around the thing and Ringmaster in the poster were seven other people. A blonde boy who was illustrated flying through the air with the words 'The Amazing Flying Gai' under him. A man with chestnut hair with both arms raised to his sides, a pillar of water on his right side, fire on his other, 'Master of Fonons' was written in the water, 'Eternal Sorcerer' in the fire. A girl with black and aqua hair, both of her fists clenched. One was surrounded by crackling electricity, the other by fire, 'Charming Sorceress' over her 'Crouching Tiger' under. A woman with blonde hair and a boy who faintly resembled Luke with crimson red hair swinging on trapeze, stretched between them, as if they were holding up the letters, said 'Trapeze Artists Extraordinaire'. A girl with long brown hair standing triumphantly on a thin wire, 'Tightrope Master' drawn hanging from the wire under her. A surprisingly young girl with black pigtails stood atop the head of a huge tan doll; the words 'Tokunaga Queen' held up under her by five other dolls.

"Wow..." he murmured, staring at the seven performers on the poster, "Wonder if maybe...Yeah!" the boy excitedly looked for a way into the large tent.

----

The boy walked into the large tent, looking around in wonder at the mass expanse of space inside the tent. He had no idea what 'Auldrant' was, but it was a cool name. Huge spiked tops of canvas striped with yellow and red created the huge tent which gave shelter to all under its spiked tops. However the many stands were empty, it was like an off day....and the performers were only training; however even the training was amazing. All of the people currently in the ring he recognized instantly from the large board which stood outside the tent.

At the top he watched the trapeze swinging back and forth through the air freely. A nimble girl with short blonde hair swung back and forth easily on the trapeze; a boy with long dark red hair soon followed her. He hung from the trapeze by bending his legs over the small bar, and caught the girl by the wrists when she jumped to him. Another girl with long brown hair, and an obviously ample bosom, strolled easily along a thin rope suspended up near the top of the tent; she did a flip, landing on the wire with ease.

While on the ground, a man with shoulder length chestnut hair summoned huge geysers of water from the ground around the edge of the ring with little more than the point of a finger. Behind him stood a girl just slightly shorter than him with black and light-blue hair; with the thrust of a hand she froze the geysers, leaving towering ice pillars in their place. A little girl with black pigtails rode atop the head of a huge doll-like creature; from her place she directed the movements of six other creatures not to unlike the one on which she stood. She made them dance, do cart-wheels and flips; all in unison.

"Ah! Look out!" a boys voice cried. Luke turned his head upward just in time to be able to dive to the ground, and out of a path of danger. A boy, only a few years older than him with short golden hair swung by on long red ribbons; it almost appeared as though he was flying through the air. He had been flying straight at the noble's son, unable to change his path; the most he could do was call out and hope he was heard. As Luke watched him fly with eyes widened in amazement the blonde slowed his flight, allowing the large ribbons to run through his hands. The boy descended rapidly to the ground where he landed deftly, before quickly jogging to Luke,

"...woah..." the boy muttered, looking up and seeing that the ribbons were tied to one thick wire which connected to a platform at the top of the tent. Despite their sheen, the large red strips of cloth were almost as thick as curtains, appearing strong as well in order to support the blonde through his various acrobatics.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked, offering Luke a hand. The blonde was only wearing loose white pants with a miniature maroon vest around his shoulders; on the back in navy letters it read 'Cirque de Auldrant'; however other than that he was shirtless. The boy had impressive muscles, most likely from an extensive workout routine.

"Y-yeah...I'm fine..." Luke agreed, taking his hand and standing with the blonde's help. He brushed off the front of his white jacket as the blonde continued speaking.

"Sorry bout that," he explained, scratching the nape of his neck, "I didn't see you there."

"Th-that was amazing...!" Luke told him appreciatively. "How did you...? Where did you...?"

"Hahaha..." the blonde chuckled softly, "Hey, hey, calm down ok?" he told Luke, extending a hand, "The name's Gai; Gai Cecil. Or: 'The Amazing Flying Gai'."

"I'm Luke." he introduced, shaking his hand, "Luke f-....Just Luke."

"Well, alright Luke." Gai agreed, folding his arms over his chest once again, "Welcome to Cirque de Auldrant. Sorry to say but the Circus is closed. Today's a training day for the cast, so..."

"W-wait-- can...Can I join this...this thing?" the boy asked hopefully.

"Join the Circus?" asked Gai, tilting his head to one side,

"S-sure! I-I'm really strong. I can do anything--just try me!"

"Woah-woah-- calm down, Luke." Gai told him, laughing lightly, "Easy. First why don't you meet the other circus members?"

"Who?" the blonde turned back, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Oi! Everyone! C'mere for a minute!!" Slowly, the six other circus members walked to them,

"Who's your new friend, Gai?" asked the little girl.

"Fresh meat?" scoffed the other red-head, "Good, Erika's been running out of things to punch." The older black haired girl rolled her eyes, shooting a glare at the boy.

"Asch!" the blonde girl scolded softly, hitting him the shoulder.

"Now, now," the chestnut haired man told the black haired girl softly, patting her shoulder, "Don't worry; I'll take care of him." That comment caused the crimson-haired boy to edge slightly away from him.

"Everyone, c'mon." the blonde asked,

"All of you be Quiet! Now!" the little black haired girl yelled. Everyone fell silent in an instant,

"Thanks, Anise." Gai told her in a quiet sigh,

"No problem." she assured, giving both Luke and Gai a big grin.

"Okay, okay, okay. Everybody, meet Luke." The blonde introduced, pushing Luke forward slightly. The boy raised his hand nervously in greeting, waving at the people as he tried to swallow the lump that formed in his throat

The circle of people consisted of the tightrope walker with long brown hair. She wore a full-body jumpsuit, the sleeves and legs of which were made of maroon felt. The torso was colored white, with the words: 'Cirque de Auldrant' written in neat navy colored caligraphy across her rather large bosom which almost threatened to tear open from its confinement. She appeared to be a nice enough person...

Standing next to her, the man whom had been summoning huge geysers of water. He had blood-red eyes which were hidden behind thin glasses. His outfit was a high-collared white suit with navy trim, his pants matching in color only lacking the navy trim; as well as white boots with slightly-squared toes, appearing to be something like dress-shoes. A long white and cape with a blue under side hung from his shoulders, the words 'Cirque de Auldrant' written in the middle of the white in blue caligraphy. He held a smile on his lips; however it was more of a smile to mask what he thought than an actual kind gesture.

Next to the man stood the girl whom appeared to be his assistant. She had shoulder length black hair, a lock of hair on the right side of her face dyed aqua. The girl was dressed in a white tank top with a maroon line extending from the right shoulder and swirling across her chest and stomach, as well as white bellbottom jeans. She also wore fingerless maroon gloves on her hands. Keeping with the fashion of the logo, Cirque de Auldrant was written up the outer side of both legs in curved blue writing; with a bit of individualistic flare the words were surrounded by a few blue stars which were outlined in silver sparkles. Unlike her partner, she gave Luke a genuine, kind smile.

Then there was the little girl who assisted Gai in silencing the group. Her short black hair was tied in pigtails by two yellow ribbons. In contrast with the rest of the group, she wore a navy leotard, with long white sleeves which were wrapped with a maroon strip like candy canes. Her lips were curved in a huge smile, and Luke almost feared that her face would stick that way. Behind her stood her army of six huge tan dolls, each one of them said Cirque de Auldrant in a small oval on their chest and back.

And last were the two trapeze artists. The blonde girl wore a maroon spaghetti strap top, and tight navy blue pants; as well as white shoulder-length gloves. The gloves were either to protect her hands or for fashion...he couldn't tell. Cirque de Auldrant was written across her back in blue and white caligraphy which glittered with a few sparkles. She had a kind look about her; however she didn't directly smile at the boy. Her red-haired partner was dressed in a similar color scheme, although slightly different in articles of clothing. A loose maroon tank-top covered his chest, and slightly loose blue pants covered his legs. His hands were covered by fingerless white gloves, the skin on his fingers slightly pale with chalk. He scowled cruelly at Luke, as if he was mad that the boy even existed.

"Alright, this is Tear Grants, the 'Tightrope Master'," Gai said, motioning to the brown haired girl. She gave Luke a small wave,

"Hello," she greeted,

"Hey," he agreed, struggling to keep from staring at her chest.

"And next is Jade Curtiss, 'Master of Fonons, Eternal Sorcerer'." The man chuckled softly,

"Oh how I hate that title...I suppose it's nice to meet you," he said, his voice loaded with fake pleasantness

"Y-yeah..." Luke responded, still somewhat put-off by his fake smile.

"Then, Erika Killira, 'Charming Sorceress, Crouching Tiger'." The girl gave Luke small flick of her hand as a small wave, still smiling just slightly,

"Hey. Nice to meet you," she told him,

"Likewise." The boy agreed, deciding that he would make quicker friends with Erika and Tear out of the group. Aside from Gai, that is.

"Next up, Anise Tatlin, 'Tokunaga Queen'." The girl jumped in the air, spinning in the air once, before landing and bowing. The six 'Tokunaga' behind her followed suit, the ground rumbling lightly under them as they landed in unison.

"Haha! Yup, I'm the best Toku-trainer around," she told Luke, beaming at him once again. The boy looked to Gai, whispering,

"Toku...?"

"Short for Tokunaga." The blonde whispered back.

"Oh." he agreed, nodding.

"Last, but not least, Natalia Luzu and Asch. 'Trapeze Artists Extraordinaire'." The girl, Natalia, waved at him, smiling a little,

"It's a pleasure to actually get to meet one of the people we entertain," she told him,

"Tch," was all the boy, Asch, said as he crossed his arms.

"Well, it's uh...Nice to meet you all," Luke told the group.

"Hey! Why's nobody training?" A man's voice called.

"Oh dear...here comes the Ringmaster..." Jade warned, the touch of pleasantness in his voice not making it seem like quite as bad, "Oh well. You're in for it now, Luke," he said, shrugging his shoulders uncaringly,

"Jade...!" Erika whispered, punching his shoulder gently, "Stop it! Don't scare him!" The man chuckled softly in response,

"Oh fine..." he sighed.

A tall man approached them. His hair was the same length as Jade's however it was sandy blonde in color; his skin a dark tan. He wore a somewhat poofy white shirt, almost like the shirt that a pirate would wear, and baggy blue pants. A maroon cape fell from his shoulders with 'Cirque de Auldrant' written in white, underneath it was written 'Ringmaster' in silver sparkles.

"Haha. What's this?" he asked, looking at Luke somewhat fondly, "A new recruit?"

"Beats us," Anise told him,

"He said he wanted to join us, Ringmaster Peony," Gai told him.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Jade commented, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger.

"Why?" Tear asked Luke, sounding genuinely confused, "I mean...the Circus of all things...?"

"Well...why not?" Luke responded, scratching the back of his head, "I-I mean...I don't expect this to be easy, but--"

"Well let's cut to the chase then," Peony suggested, almost cheerfully.

"D--huh?" the boy stuttered, confused.

"God..." Asch groaned softly, hiding his eyes in the palm of one hand.

"Twenty Questions," Erika muttered to the other performers, seemingly on the verge of laughing, "And....Go!"

"C'mon, Luke. Are you strong?" Peony asked, smirking at him.

"Y-yeah--" Luke started,

"-Athletic?" he asked, right away.

"O-of course I am, but--" he began again.

"-Acrobatic?"

"Yeah, I mean I'm pretty g--"

"-Can you dodge stuff?"

"Wha-?"

"-Let's take that as a Yes."  
"Uh--"

"-What about dancing?"

"Well I guess I--"

"-Good."

"Huh-?"

"-Could you hold up another person's bodyweight?"

"Well-- I mean that depends--"

"-300 pounds minimum?" The Ringmaster continued his barrage of questions mercilessly, never giving Luke the time to fully answer them.

"S-sure I guess but--"

"-Do you swordfight?"

"Yeah, I've trained and--"

"-Are you scared of heights?"

"No--"

"-Do you like working with people?"

"S-sure I don't see why--" Luke answered every question as fast as he could, unable to give the Ringmaster a full explanation...however he doubted that the man would even _listen_ to a full explanation.

"-Good. You're in then."

"...Eh?" Luke gave Peony the most confused look he could find as he stared at the Ringmaster.

"I said 'You're in'." Peony told him, putting his hands on his hips. "What else do you want?"

"N-nothing-! But....I mean, is that really it?"

"Sure!" he exclaimed, "What else should I do?"

"Well....uh...." /_Physical examination...? Test me on some stuff...?_\ he suggested mentally as he scratched the side of his head.

"Yay! Yay!" a high pitched voice squeaked, "Welcome to Cirque de Auldrant! Hooray!" A small teal-and-white animal with huge ears wearing a small maroon top-hat and maroon cape with white 'Cirque de Auldrant Mascot' on the back jumped up to Peony's shoulder. A gold and black band circled his tummy, almost seeming to big for him, "My name's Mieu! I'm one of the Cirque de Auldrant mascots! It's nice to meet you, mieu!" he chirped jumping around enthusiastically,

"Uh...nice to....meet you...?" Luke asked as Mieu halted his jumping,

"Ha. Well, congratulations. You're officially the New Guy." Erika explained, laughing at his confusion,

"Wh-wha--?"

"You're gonna be the New Guy till your first show." Asch told him in a monotone, "Just don't get in our way. Got it, New Guy?"

"Hey--!" Luke started,

"Ok then!" Peony interrupted, speaking as though he hadn't heard anything after Mieu stopped talking, "Gai, show him to the boys quarters and give him a uniform. Standard, ok?"

"Sure thing, ringmaster." Gai agreed, nodding once, "C'mon New Guy. This way." The redhead quickly jogged after the blonde as he left the tent. They headed towards one of two small trailers which were masked behind the tent; the one they were headed to had the names 'Jade', 'Gai', and 'Asch' written on the door. While the other said: 'Erika', 'Anise', 'Tear', 'Natalia'.

"Your names...?" asked Luke,

"Yup, keeps straight whose trailer's whose," Gai explained, "They look exactly alike...And when we move around we would, heh, get them confused. Can't tell you how many times we've gone into the woman's trailer cause we thought it was ours...hahaha... Don't worry, I'll remind Peony to add your name later."

"Thanks." The boy agreed, feeling more and more excited by the minute about actually being a part of something...He had completely forgotten about his parents, whom were back in Barluu and worried about him...Well, at the least, his Mother was worried; his father thought he still needed a reality check.

Back in the tent Natalia and Asch climbed back up to the trapeze, and Tear to her tightrope. Jade and Erika returned to their place in the middle of the ring.

"Oh dear...this won't do." Jade sighed, referring to the slowly melting ice pillars which still loomed over the ring. "Erika, if you would?"

"Sure I guess...I haven't gotten to do any real fighting for a while." the girl agreed, cracking her glove-covered knuckles

"Oh-oh-- Let my Toku-Crew help!" Anise asked, jumping to the head of her original Tokunaga, "Please, Jade? We need the training!"

"But of course, Anise." he responded.

"Dragon...Strike!" Erika called, the fifth fonon gathering in her leg and causing it to glow red. The sole of her foot collided solidly with the ice pillar, the red shooting from her leg into the pillar; the section she kicked shattered into hundreds of shards of glistening ice. As the fonons shot up the center of the huge ice structure they formed the shape of the traditional Oriental-dragon. In a matter of seconds, the fifth-fonon-dragon and reduced whole pillar to a large puddle on the ground, "Tada." she announced, blowing her aqua bangs from in front of her face with a short puff of air.

"Very impressive." Jade complimented, clapping his hands like a spectator.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." she groaned sarcastically, bowing exaggeratedly to her one-man audience.

"Oh, Erika," he sighed, "Really now...Take more pleasure in your work. You're quite good at it."

"Nyeee!" She stuck her tongue out at him while making an unidentifiable noise, "Whatever." Jade sighed,

"How I fell for a girl like you...I'll never know..." he sighed, pushing up his glasses,

"Hey!" she barked, shoulders dropping; she accomplished making herself offended. Jade chuckled softly in response, patting the top of her head,

"Now, now. I've still fallen for you, haven't I?" he asked, resting his hand on her head and brushing the lock of aqua hair from her forehead with his thumb. It refused to stay where it was supposed to, next to the side of her face,

"I guess." she responded in a light giggle, her cheeks turning light pink.

"Awwww! You two are soooo Cute together!!" Anise chirped from atop her Lead Tokunaga.

"..." Erika made a small noise, cheeks turning red as she swatted Jade's hand from her forehead. She sent a small glare towards Anise while the Magician chuckled softly at how easily she was embarrassed. The little girl giggled lightly as her six Toku skipped back to their place to resume their training

"C'mon you two. Get back to work," Peony added. Erika shrugged and took to the task of breaking up any large chunks of ice that Anise and the Toku-Crew left behind. The red had fully faded from her cheeks as she concentrated on her task, reducing the last large chunks to small shards and splinters. Peony walked to Jade, "Now Jade, what've I told you about doing that out in public?"

"Told who about what in public?" Gai's voice asked, "Is someone streaking again?" He and Luke returned with Luke, whom dressed in an outfit which matched Asch's; however it seemed just slightly too big for the boy. While Luke watched Erika breaking down large blocks of ice with four or five punches, Gai walked to the Ringmaster and Magician.

"Luckily, No." Peony told him, "Don't worry about it."

"Care to clue me in?" Gai asked, folding his arms over his chest,

"We were wondering if Erika was stronger than you." the magician informed him, putting his hands in his pockets. The never-faltering fake pleasantness in his voice masked the fact that he was lying.

"Hey, she probably is. I won't deny that." Gai admitted, scratching the back of his head while laughing lightly, "I mean...I probably couldn't do that," he motioned towards the girl's ice-breaking with a nod, "But...Gimme a sword and I'll give you a ton of ice cubes in no time. And that's something I'm pretty sure she can't do."

"Ve-ery true." Peony agreed with a satisfied nod, "Erika has her fists, and you've got your sword. Things even out."

"W-wow...! Is she human?" asked Luke, wondering if he should try to break the ice blocks the same way she was.

"Quite," Jade responded, pushing up his glasses, "Say, Gai, why don't you start the New Guy off with training? See what he's capable of, mm?"

"Hey--what's with calling me New Guy?" Luke asked,

"It's a tradition." Peony told him, "We call the guy's 'New Guy' and the girl's 'New Girl' until their first show. _Then_ we call you by name."

"Urggh...." Luke groaned softly,

"Hey, c'mon. Don't punish him for that one little comment." Gai told Jade, "You can't blame him. Heck, I didn't believe she could do that when I first saw it."

"Who's punishing who, Gai?" the magician asked, giving Gai a fake smile, "Me? Punish the New Guy? Oh heavens no."

"I swear..." the blonde groaned softly. Jade shrugged simply and returned to his place, "Okay, New Guy. Training field's this way. Let's go."

"Training?" the boy asked curiously, following him, "Like what? Running laps? Weights?" /_This is gonna kill the poor kid..._\ the blonde sighed mentally,

"Uh...Something like that..." Gai agreed at length, pushing aside the back flap to the tent.

-----

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!"

"C'mon Luke, you've gotta make it one more lap. You've only done two, just one more! Let's go, c'mon!" His new friend cheered, trying to help him,

"Dooaaaaah!! I see why your circus is so...small!" Luke groaned. He had a total of six-hundred pounds strapped to him, divided equally throughout his legs and arms. Another weight of two-hundred pounds strapped to his back. He had to jog around a large, oval-shaped track outside the tent which was almost as large as the tent itself, "This training...must... kill people!"

"Yup." Gai agreed jokingly as Luke slowed to a walk past him, "And when they die we give 'em to Jade."

"Wh-why...?" The boy asked weakly, panting for breath and unable to raise a hand to wipe away the sweat that drenched his face. His arms and legs ached severely, /_And I thought my sword training was hard...God!_\ he grumbled. For a split second he considered now running away from the _circus_. However he decided against it, not knowing where else he would go.

"Other than the 'magician' uh...Jade's kinda an uh..." Gai scratched the nape of his neck as he tried to come up with a way to describe him, "Well...the Dead...he..."

"Is he a 'Necrophilia' kinda guy?" Luke asked,

"No way," the blonde responded, shaking his head once. Luke faintly heard him saying something under his breath as an afterthought; the only two words which caught were 'has Erika'. /_?_\

"So then what is he?" the boy asked,

"A...uh...A Necromancer." the blonde announced finally, "He takes apart dead people to see what makes them tick, and sometime he tries to put em back together to make a new thing...Believe me, he has fun doing it, too. It's pretty creepy if you ask me."

"Oh great..." Luke groaned unenthusiastically, /_I'm partners with a guy who likes to take apart dead people..._\

"Erika, Jade and Anise joined this circus first with Ringmaster Peony," Gai explained, "I joined next, and then Tear. Asch and Natalia joined just a few months ago... You're the first one to join since then."

"So what...?" the redhead asked before groaning softly, feeling his arms and legs get heavier and heavier by the second as the weights took their toll. He wondered if _he_ would survive this exercise.

"Erika told me that Anise originally started with _one_ Tokunaga..." Gai told him, voice lowering slightly as if to add suspense, "And Jade made the other five out of all the other people who tried to join this circus but didn't survive this training routine."

"Say what?!" Luke demanded. The boy _was_ somewhat gullible, however who wouldn't believe that Jade was a Necromancer? No one could tell what he was thinking with that weird smile...

"Better get running," Gai told him, "If you even fall over he'll take that as a sign that you're dead. Anise has been saying she could use a seventh--"

"I'm going! I'm going!" the boy exclaimed, suddenly feeling a burst of new energy. He took off at a fast sprint around the track, Gai laughed heartily as he clapped his hands in approval of Luke's effort. /_Works every time...._\ he sighed mentally. Tear walked from the tent,

"Gai. Peony is saying you should get back to work. I'll watch Luke." she told him,

"Sure, sure..." Gai agreed,

"Why's Luke running so fast?" asked Tear, watching the red haired boy sprint around the track as though his life depended on it. Despite the weights he wore, he was running surprisingly quickly, "I thought all he had to do was walk with..." she heard Gai's soft chuckling, "Gai-- what did you do?"

"Well...I might have mentioned a little _something_ about Jade being a Necromancer and..."

"You said that Jade would take him apart and make him a Tokunaga if he didn't run, didn't you?!" the woman demanded, not finding it funny.

"Hey, he's getting good exercise," Gai told her, "It's what Jade made me and Asch do when we came. Just putting him through a test." Then the blonde walked into the circus tent to resume his 'flying'.

"H-hey...c...can I...stop...now?" Luke asked Tear. He slowed to barely a walk as he passed her,

"Yes!" the woman confirmed, quickly running to him and helping remove the weight from his back. The boy fell back on his ass, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath; he easily ignored the pain that shocked his tailbone when it collided with the ground. His arms and legs ached savagely from the exertion, he knew he'd have hell tomorrow... "I'm sorry Gai made you run like that." Tear apologized sincerely, "When Gai wanted to join the circus that's what Jade forced him to do, then Asch had to do the same...Gai just wanted you to go through what they did. I apologize for--"

"No...ah...it's ok," Luke told her, shaking the weights from his right arm first. "I don't want any special treatment or anything..." /_Got enough of that back at my manor..._\ "If Gai had to do it, then so do I. That's fine with me."

"W-well I was just..." Tear started, sounding confused as to why Luke had no problem with Gai picking on him, "...This must be a masculinity thing..." she sighed. Luke rubbed his left arm before attempting to get the weights off that arm as well, choosing to ignore Tear's comment. He shook his left arm free of the weights, rubbing his bicep; the strap from the weight had begun to digging into his arm in the middle of the second lap and it had almost cut through the skin by the time he stopped running.

"Ow..." he muttered under his breath, gingerly rubbing the throbbing bruise,

"Here, let me see your arm," Tear asked, holding out her hand.

"Why...?"

"Just let me see." she ordered. Luke held out his arm, allowing her a better look at the bruise. "Hmm...I see..." she held her free hand over his bruise, "Oh soothing melody," she canted softly, "...First Aid." A pale green spell circle appeared under him as green light fell from her palm to his arm. When the tightrope walker pulled her hands away the bruise was gone, and his arm was completely healed,

"W-...Woah! Ho-how did you do that?" Luke asked, genuinely amazed. He poked the patch of skin which used to be bruised, finding that it didn't ache or hurt at all.

"Its basic healing magic," the woman told him simply, "Haven't you seen it before?"

"N-no--C-could I learn how to do this?"

"I...don't think so," Tear told him, barely keeping down a small laugh at his genuine amazement at the simplest of healing artes.

After getting back in the tent, Erika and Anise applauded the fact that he could still walk after that routine, while Asch just folded his arms and snorted something about Gai going easy on him.

"You did very well, Luke." Natalia agreed, "I know you'll do fine in our circus."

"My, my...So the New Guy survived, did he?" Jade asked in his own somewhat-condescending way, adjusting his glasses.

"Ha!!" Luke yelled triumphantly, jabbing a finger towards him, "I'm still alive! You can't take me apart! Hahaha!"

"Hm...?" Jade tilted his head slightly to one side, "Ooooh," he sighed, nodding once and catching onto what the boy was talking about, "_That_. Yes well...you survived your first training routine..."

"Huh?" He asked, arm returning to his side, "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Well, who said all the people I disassembled were from the first training alone? You'll have to keep up your training ever day," his smile widened towards Luke which only made the boy feel...awkward, "Just you wait...New Guy.~"

Luke decided to stay away from Jade as much as he could.

* * *

Tada!

Heh...I got the inspiration for this story while watching the performance of 'Cirque du Soleil: La Nouba' in Disney World.

REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!


	2. 2: Trapeze and Cheagle Rescue

Chapter #2! muwahahaha...  
I'm still working on the 'Jaded Abyss' story, but the going is a little slow...sorry.

* * *

"Trapeze Act?!" Luke demanded. The Cirque de Auldrant crew had just finished eating breakfast the morning after Luke had joined the circus; Anise had dishwashing duty, however with her six Tokunaga to do it in her place the chore was finished in no time at all.

"Yup. You'll start out on the trapeze today to see if you're any good. If not, you'll move down to see about helping out on the floor or getting your own act." Peony told him cheerfully,

"Well-- I mean, I'm all for him helping out in an act," Gai voiced, "B-but starting him off on the trapeze? Ringmaster-- that's just cruel."  
"What?" the ringmaster asked, apparently not seeing anything wrong with it, "Natalia and Asch don't have a problem with it. Right guys?"

"Not at all," Natalia agreed, "I'd like to have another partner. We could do more tricks then."

"Hn...I doubt saying anything at this point will actually making a difference, so I'll just say Fine. Stick the New Guy with us and we'll see if he lives." Asch agreed, arms crossed over his chest. Luke glared at the back of his almost look-a-like; he really did like dumping on Luke, didn't he?

"It's settled then. Today, New Guy starts off on the trapeze." Peony announced.

"...oh man..." the boy groaned softly, seriously not looking forward to what lay ahead of him.

---

However, after getting inside the tent, Luke's date with the flying trapeze was cut, somewhat, short.

"Mieuuuuu!" Mieu was stuck atop one of the trapeze, hanging high over the ground and the group of friends,

"Mieu!" the group called at once,

"Mieu! Help! I can't get down! Mieuuu!!" he chirped, clinging to one of the ropes which held up the trapeze.

"How'd he get up there?!" Erika asked to no one in particular. However the magician quickly located the problem,

"Look," the ladder up the support pole to the trapeze platform was lowered so anyone could climb up, "Asch and Natalia left the trapeze ladders down yesterday, he must have climbed up." Jade explained, his voice serious,

"But what's he doing _on_ the trapeze?" Anise asked worriedly, "How'd he get out there?"

"He must have attempted to get down on his own." the man responded,

"Don't worry little guy!" Gai called up, "We'll come get you, just don't move!"

"Oh dear....this is our fault..." Natalia gasped, covering her mouth with her hands in worry of the little mascot hanging up there, "Poor Mieu...!"

"Don't say that, idiot." Asch ordered, "We've gotta get him down, and we will. He'll be fine."

"Right--" Natalia began.

"Luke!" Tear called. Said New Guy was already half way up the ladder,

"New Guy!" Erika yelled at him, running to the base of the ladder, "What are you doing!? Get back down here!"

"Only Asch and Natalia are trained to do this," Jade agreed, "You'll hurt yourself."

"No I won't!" Luke yelled back, "I'll get him down! Just wait there!"

"Asch, go up the other side and try to beat him to Mieu." Peony ordered,

"Got it." Asch took off towards the other ladder obediently, climbing up the minute he was within reach

"Gai," the Ringmaster turned to him, "You go too. Who knows, they might need your help,

"Right." the blonde followed his crimson-haired friend and began climbing the ladder,

"Jade," he turned to the magician, "Follow the New Guy. Try to stop him any way you can. If he jumps after Mieu I need you to use your magic. Can you do it?"

"Of course." he agreed, before pursuing Luke up his ladder.

"Erika, give Jade some magic backup down here." Peony told her,

"Will do." she agreed, nodding. She looked up at her four friends, hands clenched out of worry, /_Wish I could do more..._\ she mumbled in her head.

"Anise: Get your Toku-Crew and get out the safety net. And hurry."

"On it!" Anise agreed, "Toku! Go!" the six Tokunaga stampeded out of the tent obediently, headed towards the small shed where the props and such for the show were stored,

"Natalia, keep an eye on Asch. Tear, you watch the New Guy." he finished, "If anything goes wrong give a shout to Jade and Erika."

"Yes." Natalia and Tear agreed at once, nodding.

-----------------------

Doing his best not to look down, Luke pulled himself up onto the high platform. Luckily, Mieu was on the trapeze bar closest to him so getting to him would be slightly easier. There were three trapeze hanging from the top of the tent. One in front of each platform, then one in the middle. The ones in front of the platform had a lower bar, then one about eight feet higher on the same support chords,

"Hang on Mieu, I'll get you down." Luke assured, glancing around before backing up a little on the platform, "With a running start I could probably..." he muttered, glancing around again.

"Stop!" Jade ordered, only three quarters of the way up, "Don't jump out there! If you do you could kill yourself!"

"I've got you and Erika to help me!" Luke told him, masking his fear,

"You fail to realize how long it takes to cast a Fonic Arte." the man responded, "The best chance you have is letting Anise and her Tokunaga get back with their net first."

"Mieu can't wait that long!" Luke argued. He bounded to the end of the platform, and launched himself off,

"Luke!" Tear shouted, followed by a chorus of 'New Guy!',

"Damn--!" Jade cursed, beginning to gather wind fonons as quickly as he could from his place on the ladder. Erika followed suit on the ground as Anise and her Toku-Crew rushed back into the tent with the safety net rolled between the two columns of Tokunaga.

"Hurry up!" Anise yelled, now standing on the ground, "Hurry up and unroll that net under the trapeze! Move!" her Tokunaga followed her orders obediently, running underneath the trapeze and beginning to unroll the net.

---

Luke flew for two seconds though the air, arms out in front of him, before his hands clamped around the trapeze bar,

"Waahh!" the force of the inexperienced boy and his sloppy jump onto the bar jostled it, and caused it to swing in a wide arc,

"Mieu--!" Mieu fell from the bar, his tiny hands unable to hold on, however Luke quickly caught him right as the trapeze neared the height of its swing. The cheagles little top hat fell from his head, falling down...down... The redhead quickly ripped his eyes from the ground when his vision began to spin.

"H-hang on! Quick!" he ordered, struggling to keep hold of the swinging bar with only one hand. Mieu quickly jumped to his shoulder; Luke clamped his hand on the bar again as it swung down and backwards. His arms ached as he forced his hands to grip the trapeze bar tighter.

"Gah! You idiot!" Asch yelled at him from where he had reached his platform, "Hurry up and jump off that thing while it's still swinging! You don't want to get stuck there!"

"Off?!" Luke demanded. It was hard enough getting _on_.

"Yes! Just let go and throw yourself in the right direction at the height of the swing--" Luke did what Asch told him. Flying off the first bar...towards the next.

"Not that way!" the crimson-haired boy screamed when Luke just barely caught the center trapeze.

"H-huh?" he asked as the trapeze swung back and forth, the arc of this trapeze not quite as wild as the arc of the last one,

"I meant let go in the **back** swing, you stupid dreck! You would have landed on the platform where you started!" he yelled, obviously enraged by Luke's 'Act and save now, think about how to get out later' attitude.

"You should have said that!" Luke yelped at him as he continued swinging.

"You should have been able to figure that out for yourself!" Asch responded. Gai finally made it to the platform,

"Aw great..." he groaned softly, Luke was in an even worse situation than before.

"Don't worry. I know how to get him down." Asch growled to the blonde, "Just be here to catch him, got it?"

"Right." Gai responded. Asch climbed up another small ladder, to another smaller platform overhead. He then leapt from that platform to the upper of the trapeze in front of him.

"New Guy!" he called,

"What now?" Luke whined,

"Jump to the trapeze below me--now!"  
"What?" Luke asked, "How will--"  
"Now!" Asch roared at him. Luke released his bar and flew through the air, Mieu clinging to his shoulder; again he just barely managed to catch the trapeze below Asch. The aching in his hands told Luke that he wouldn't be able to make a jump like that again; he could barely hold onto the bar with all of his strength. The crimson-haired boy had changed position so he was holding onto the bar by bending his knees over it, hanging upside down. "Now grab on!" he called, holding out his hands,

"How?" Luke demanded, looking up, "My hands are kind of full here!"

"Swing your legs up here!" he barked.

"My...? R-right!" the boy built momentum up in his swing, before beginning a complete three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn around the bar. However Asch securely caught his ankles after one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.

"Let go of your bar." Asch demanded, and Luke did as he ordered, Mieu still clinging to his shoulder. "Alright--I'm going to swing, and throw you to Gai on five. Got it?"

"Th-throw me--?!"

"One, two--"

"--Wait!--"

"--Five!" blatantly skipping the numbers between two and five, Asch used the force of the back swing to throw Luke towards Gai and the safety of the other platform.

"Waaahhhh!!!" Luke was anything but graceful, as he flew through the air. However, graceful or not, at least he flew. He glanced down to see the six Tokunaga had long since spread out the net below him, the crossed fibers forming a large oval. But, even if it meant he would be safe if he fell, he didn't exactly want to.

----

The new guy landed on his stomach on the platform with a thud, his lower waist and legs not on the platform. Gai quickly grabbed his wrists and helped him up; his legs flailed around in the air of their own accord when he realized he hadn't fully landed on safe ground. Anise, Natalia, Tear, Erika, Gai, and Peony applauded Luke's heroic, if not somewhat stupid and suicidal, efforts to save Mieu.

"Way to act on impulse, New Guy!" Erika called, giving him a thumbs-up from her place on the ground.

"Next time think things through!" Tear called up to him. Jade had long since reached his platform, and watched the spectacle with some interest; the magician shook his head,

"My, my...Quite the new one we have on our...hm?" he noticed someone standing outside the tent, spying on the troupe through a small space in between two flaps of canvas. A smirk crossed his lips when he recognized who it was, "Well, well, well..."

---

From outside the tent, a white haired man from their rival circus watched the group. Had been waiting for them since three in the morning (for some odd reason) and witnessed the whole trapeze rescue of the cheagle-mascot. However, he hadn't heard the yelling of Asch at Luke; he thought Luke and Asch did their whole 'get the dumbass who dosn't know what he's doing off the trapeze' act on purpose and in unison...

"Hmm...That new guy is good..." he muttered, adjusting his tiny eyeglasses, "However he and that sniveling Jade are no match for me! Dist the--"

"Anise--a Spy!" Jade called, a spear materializing in his hand in a flash of light. He hurled it towards the intruder; however buried itself in the ground right in front of him instead of actually making contact.

"Hah!" Dist mocked, sticking his head fully into the tent and sticking his tongue out at Jade, "You missed--...me..." in that instant he realized how stupid he had just been. He glared at the smirking Jade, "Aaah! Darn it!"

"Tokunaga Five-- Duel Punishment!" Anise ordered, smirking at the spy and pointing towards him. One of the Tokunaga abandoned their place at the net, bounding with surprising speed towards the intruder,

"Naaa!" he squeaked trying to get away, but was unable to avoid the dolls swinging arms, "You'll Regret This!!" he yelled, flying through the air away from the tent. He then said something about a 'Revenge Journal' but they couldn't quite hear.

---

Five minutes later the whole circus crew was down on the ground.

"Good job New Guy." Peony congratulated, "I wish the circumstances of your test could have been better; however, I'd say that solves that. You're part of the trapeze act now."

"...S-sure..." Luke agreed, holding his quivering knees to try and keep them still. "Just as soon as my legs stop being made of jell-o."

"Haha, we've got a kidder, great." Peony told him, smacking him in the back heartily and knocking him down on the ground,

"Oof--!" he groaned hitting the ground. Despite the intense workout from the day before, his arms hadn't been hurting...before he got on the trapeze to save Mieu, that is.

"Oh dear..." Jade sighed, shrugging his shoulders, "Now he's gone and died. How rude."

"Guess you really _can_ make me that Seventh Tokunaga~~ Right Jade?" Anise asked him, suppressing her giggles with much effort.

"Hmm, well...Unfortunately, he's not that big. I suppose I could make half of a doll with--"

"No!" Luke yelped, jumping up to his feet, "I'm still Alive! ...ow..." he rubbed his sore arms which had begun to throb after he used them to spring up so quickly. Everyone, aside from Natalia, Tear and Asch, laughed lightly at the antic.

"They're only kidding New Idiot. Jeeze, don't be so gullible." Asch told him. Luke glared at him for his attitude. All the redhead did was come and join the circus, and his crimson-haired almost look-a-like treated him like shit because of it.

"Aside from the idiot part," Erika commented "Asch is telling the truth; Jade's just kidding, New Guy. He wouldn't _really_ make another Tokunaga out of you if you died."

"It's pretty damn hard to tell when he's kidding." Luke grumbled,

"Don't we know it..." Gai sighed, shaking his head,

"For your sake, Gai, I'm going to ignore that." Jade announced, placing his hands in his pockets once again. The blonde laughed nervously in response.

---

Later that day, Peony had given Luke somewhat of an 'off day', and he could help out wherever he deemed necessary. Around one o'clock, Erika had taken a break from helping Jade, and Gai had also taken a break from his routine. He was assisting Erika with taking care of three rapigs which had found their way into the tent. One had a collar which said 'Nephry'; another had a collar that said 'Nebilim', the final rappig's collar said 'Saphir'. Gai was feeding Saphir and Nephry, Erika was brushing Nebilim's coat with a grooming brush. There was a general lull in training all together, and it seemed like one o'clock was a bit of a break time in the training day. Lunch would be ready soon, and Luke guessed that the training would pick up again after that.

"New Guy!" Anise called, "I need your help!" Luke grumbled under his breath about still being called 'New Guy'. He walked over to Anise,

"Here, hold this together." she ordered. One of her Tokunaga's arms had split open. She asked for Luke to hold the two sides together so that she could sew them back up with a thick thread which she held at the ready.

"Sure." he agreed. As the boy pulled both sides of the fabric taut he peered subtly into the arm to see it was filled with cotton-cushioned machinery. Anise quickly sewed up the tear in the arm, and tied the string off tightly,

"Thanks, New Guy." the little girl told him, beaming up at him.

"Uh-huh..." he responded, finding that being called 'New Guy' was wearing on his nerves, "Say, Anise."

"Hmm?"

"When are you guys gonna stop calling me 'New Guy' and call me by my real name?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips,

"After your first show." she explained, adding cheerfully, "But our next show isn't for a little while, so you're just gonna have to put up with it." Luke grumbled under his breath, wondering if he would be able to _survive_ that long...

* * *

Tada...!!!...  
Please review to tell me if you like it or not!!


	3. 3: Food Blasphemy and the Search Party

From now on the word 'Blasphemy' is going to appear somewhere in each chapter!  
Why...? Cause its a fun word to say!

* * *

The rest of the day went off without being all _too_ hectic...Aside from the fact that one of Anise's Tokunaga stunts had accidentally scared the rappigs and sent them running around the big-top in a panic. It took the whole troupe half an hour to round them up and calm them down. While Peony took the task of scolding Anise for scaring 'his poor, dear, cute rappigs', Luke asked Tear if Anise and Erika were related, for they actually did look somewhat alike. The woman responded that the two weren't related in any way other than the fact they both worked in the circus.

In what seemed like no time it was late and the training was over. Also, it was time for dinner. Which meant ringmaster was going to choose who would cook tonight.

"Alright, the ones who will cook tonight are..." Peony looked at the troupe, considering each person for a long while. "Hmm...

"C'mon, we're not getting any younger!" Anise exclaimed,

"Especially Jade." Erika added, only to receive a light smack in the back of the head from the man.

"Alright, alright, alright...The ones who will cook tonight are the New Guy and Asch!"

"What?!" they both exclaimed at once. Luke enjoyed cooking, he'd asked one of the chefs at the manor to teach him how when he was younger, however he couldn't stand Asch. Asch didn't like cooking _or_ the New Guy. However Peony would not hear it,

"I've decided," He ordered, "Now, get to cooking!"

----

Fifteen minutes later it was decided that Luke would cook the main course, and Asch would make the side dish.

"Hmmm..." After looking through the freezer Luke smiled approvingly when he found nine steaks sitting in the icy box. "Yes...!" he muttered, pulling the meat from the freezer and setting it on a large cooking sheet to let it thaw out. Asch's lower lip poked out in some form of a pout as he glared at how avidly the New Guy was preparing dinner. He couldn't stand the New Guy, he wasn't even sure why. But there was just something about him...something that just bothered the hell out of him. Maybe it was his attitude, maybe it was because the New Guy looked so, so much like him.

"..." the more experienced of the two trapeze artists reached into the large cabinet and pulled out four packs of 'Maruchan Ramen'. Asch filled a large pot with water, putting it on the stove and turning the burner to high. Luke was mixing various spices with olive oil, seeming quite happy as he mixed them together.

----------------

Anise sighed from where the group was sitting in the stands. The little girl was sitting next to Erika whom had spread out on the stands. She was sitting on one row, her feet on the row below her, leaning her elbows on the row behind.

"I'm bored." the little girl said, poking the older one in the side,

"I know that." the older girl responded, she sighed, leaning her head back until the back rested on the stand, "Jeeze, Asch and the New Guy wouldn't get along if they're life depended on it."

"I hate to say it, but you're right." Tear agreed, she shook her head with a small sigh, "Asch and Luke just don't seem like the kind who would become friends easily."

"Even though they look so much alike. I almost thought they were brothers." Natalia commented.

"It's interesting how quickly Asch decided to hate him." Jade commented, "He's hated him ever since he laid eyes on the New Guy."

"Asch hates everybody." Erika reminded him,

"I know that." the man responded, "However it usually takes a few days for him to decide to hate someone. Not just in an instant."

"So...Who votes we ditch Asch and the New Guy and go out to eat?" Anise asked. Hands were raised by: Jade, Erika, Peony, and herself.

"Majority wins." Peony beamed, "We go out."

"But we should at least tell Asch and the New Guy we're leaving..." Natalia asked, not wanting to abandon the two; especially if it meant leaving them to go at each other's throats.

"I mean no offense ringmaster, but your group only won by one person--" Gai began,

"I'm the ringmaster; I count as two people." the man responded concisely, "Besides, if we wait for Asch and the New Guy to make dinner we'll be sitting here forever."

"...Well...you do have a point, I guess..." the blonde admitted, scratching the nape of his neck. After changing into normal clothes (or at least more normal than their circus uniforms) they left the tent and headed into Barluu; it was Anise's turn to choose, and she picked an oriental restaurant called Pei Wei.

----------------

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Luke cried, seeing Asch making his pot-full of Ramen. Ramen was the only thing he was truly good at cooking,

"Cooking, what's it look like you idiot?" Asch demanded, having half the mind to beat the red head for not being quiet.

"Y-you can't make Ramen to go with Stake! I-it's just not done!!" the boy whined, "They don't compliment!"

"They're both food! What's the problem?!" he demanded. "Screw 'complimenting'!!"

"B-b-but--! But--! That's like...Like...It's like Food Blasphemy!"

"Shut up!" Asch ordered, continuing his cooking. "Its food! We can still eat it! Get over it!"

"But its blasphemy! Blasphemizer!" Luke exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Asch.

"Stop saying blasphemy and cook your steaks, dammit!" Asch exclaimed, trying to cook his ramen. Luke continued whining for some time as he finished the seasonings, "Shut up or I'm throwing you in this pot!"

---------------

While eating Tear noticed a group of soldiers jog by outside; the group was spread out between two booth seats at the window,

"...Hey, look." she asked, pointing out of the window, her companions looked outside watching the tail end of the small group of soldiers go by.

"Those are knights, right?" Erika wondered aloud, poking around a small garlic clove in her food,

"Looks like it." Anise nodded,

"Think they're looking for someone?"

"Must be..." Gai agreed, leaning his temple against the window to see the armored men round a corner at the end of the street and disappear, "I've never seen that many knights together like that."

"Why yes, Erika, didn't you hear?" Jade asked, his seat situated directly behind Erika's, "They say a mad killer escaped last night--"

"Be quiet, Jade." she ordered tossing the garlic clove at him, however he moved at the last second and the vegetable landed on the table harmlessly. "I don't want any nightmares tonight." the magician chuckled in response.

"You don't know?" a waiter asked, overhearing their conversation.

"Know what?" Peony responded, indicating they indeed ''didn't know'.

"A noble's son went missing yesterday, he hasn't come back and now his parents are worried sick."

"Noble's son? Missing...?" the two tables glanced back outside, half-expecting to see more knights, before going back to eating.

---------------  
---------------

The next day Asch and Luke were just a little more than Mad at the group.

After struggling to not kill one another for close to an hour as they cooked, they finished only to find everyone was gone. Leaving them to eat what they made. (most of which was wasted).

"C'mon you two." Erika asked. The two were sitting relatively near one another, pouting and glaring at the other out of the corner of their eyes. Erika walked between them, hitting them lightly on the head, "Let's go. Get up."

"Shut up!" Asch ordered, attempting to hit her; however she just managed to jump out of the way.

"Why'd you guys just ditch us last night?!" Luke demanded. He sat with the soles of his feet pressed together, hands resting on his ankles and knees bent out to his sides. The boy pouted at the girl, "You could have at least told us you were going so we wouldn't have wasted so much food..."

"Hey--Don't get mad at me." she ordered, putting one hand on her hip and pointing at Anise with her other, "It was Her idea," she then pointed to Peony and Jade, "And they agreed with it."

"So did you." Luke shot back,

"...." she was silent for a moment, knowing that he was right, "...j-just start training before the Ringmaster comes over."

"Yeah, c'mon," Anise jogged over to them, smiling broadly at them, "You can't just sit around all day."

"You're the one who suggested the idea to ditch us." Asch growled at her,

"Eh--?" she glared at Erika whom had a slightly nervous look on her face now, "Hey! You said you wouldn't tell them!"

"..." she scratched the back of her head as Anise angrily punched her leg, "I gotta go train." she then walked away.

"Ringmaster," Gai called from the tent entrance,

"What is it, Gailardia?" Peony responded, almost in a sigh,

"There are some soldiers here; they want to talk to you."

"Soldiers?" Luke's heart thudded in his chest worriedly; he felt sweat collecting on his brow, /_No...!! No way--How'd they find me already?!_\

"Remember what they waiter told us?" Peony explained, "Oh that's right...you weren't at the restaurant."

"What did they tell you...?"

"They're saying a Noble's son ran away, they're checking every place he could hide." Gai called back before Peony could answer,

"Oh yeah, that guy from the restaurant last night told us that..." Anise remembered; Luke fought even harder to calm himself,

"Yes, after we saw those knights go by looking for him." Natalia confirmed; the boy's body was rattled with a shiver of worry.

"Right, right...Well, I can't have them messing with my troupe the day of a show." Peony shook his head as he walked to the edge of the tent.

"Show?" Luke asked, trying to keep his voice level, "Th-there's a show tonight...?"

"We didn't tell you cause you're not gonna be in it, New Guy." Anise explained,

"Wh-why not?"

"Well for one, all we did was mention a show and you broke out into a cold sweat." Jade told him, causing Luke's heart to beat faster,

"Besides," Tear added, "You're still new...putting you in would be dangerous."

"Oh...I-I see..." Luke agreed, worrying about the knights outside.

"I can't believe those knights have the nerve to search _here_..." Gai voiced, "I mean, come on...! A circus is the last place that a **Noble** would go." Everyone else voiced their agreement.

"Boo!"

"AAaahhh!!" Luke's heart practically jumped out of its chest as his body threw itself forward out of reflex. Behind where he had once been sitting was Anise, crouching down so she would have been even with his head,

"Haha. Scared you, New Guy," she giggled,

"...yeah...you-you sure did." Luke gasped, putting a hand on his chest to slow his heartbeat,

"You're almost as white as a ghost. What are you? A runaway convict or something?" she asked

"Y-Y-You could say that..." the boy responded in a whisper, putting a hand over his heart as he tried to catch his breath. Tear smacked Anise on the back of her head,

"Ow--!" she yelped holding her head,

"I can't believe you would do something like that." she told the girl disapprovingly, "Honestly, you could have given him a heart attack."

"I was just joking, Tear." the girl insisted standing back up; Tear's disapproving glare didn't leave her face.

Peony soon returned,

"Well, I've convinced them that there is No noble's son here." the Ringmaster nodded, "Now that we've got that settled..." he looked to Luke, "Hm? What happened to you, New Guy?"

"Anise scared him." Natalia responded,

"Oh. Anise, don't do that." Peony shook his finger at Anise once as if that was a scolding. "Anyway, Natalia and Asch, I want you to take the New Guy back up on the Trapeze today and help him learn how to jump from bar to bar. The Saftey Net is already set up and everything."

"Yes, alright." Natalia nodded,

"Anise, keep working with your Toku-crew; you've still got a few details to hammer out with your show."

"Yes sir." the little girl responded,

"Tear, keep practicing your flips." he turned to the tightrope walker, "Some of them look a bit shaky. I don't want you falling off during the show."

"I understand." she agreed, apparently also feeling the flips she did on the tightrope weren't as good as they could be.

"Now, Jade and Erika, about that little duel that you're gonna have..."

* * *

Wonder how long he can keep this act up?  
Can he at least make it until the Circus moves to a new location?


	4. 4: A Year?

Outfits I'm using:  
Jade, Asch, Anise and Natalia are wearing the outfits they start out with in the game,  
Tear and Gai are wearing the outfits Emperor Peony can give you at the end. Tear's is called 'Cool Girl' and...I forget Gai's...heh... -brick'd-  
I made up Erika's new outfit all on my own. w00t.

* * *

"That was amazing!!" Luke exclaimed. He and Peony were the only ones that weren't tired, while the rest of the troupe seemed exhausted. The redhead was with the rest of the troupe where they had gathered in Peony's trailer (Which was surprisingly large) Luke had wondered how the technical aspects would be run, however Peony explained that their partner circus, which was considerably smaller, would do shows for publicity in town which attracted such large crowds; while during an actual performance they would run the lights, tickets, concessions and things like that. 

Peony, Mieu and his rappigs were ending the show.

"Thank you for coming!!" the man exclaimed. Saphir ran to his master's side, Nebilim quickly jumping on his back; with one surprising leap Nephry was soon perched atop the two. Mieu jumped from his place on Peony's shoulder to Nephry's back; he and Peony removed their top hats in sync, bowing to the crowd which was still applauding,

"Go! Spread the magic and fun wherever you go!" he called.

"Be sure you see us again, Mieu!"

"Next Year!"

------------

Asch rolled his left shoulder in a slow circle; in the rush from the fake sword duel with Gai to acting as though he was escaping up the ladder to the trapeze, the crimson-haired boy had pulled his shoulder. Jade was helping Erika bandage her arm; in one of their stunts which involved the girl dodging shards of ice, the girl had gotten cut. From the crowd, as well as Luke's standpoint, it appeared as though she had dodged all of them; however one had just barely caught her, cutting her upper arm.

"Heh, thanks Luke," Tear told him, "But that was just a normal show..."

"Yeah, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary, New Guy." Anise agreed simply. Erika and Jade sat on the couch; Asch, Tear and Natalia sat at the table; Anise sat on a counter, instead of the stool she was using as a footrest. Gai was getting announcements from Peony and Luke was currently standing, so two stools were empty. Peony's trailer was fairly large, seeming almost like a small home on wheels instead of just a room with a lot of beds and a large closet. The door opened and the blonde walked into the trailer, seeming happy.

"The Dark Wings are going to help us pack up," Gai explained to the troupe, relaying what Peony had said while the ringmaster spoke with a few guests, "We get the trailers ready to go tonight, then we pack in the morning and we're off. Including leaving tomorrow, it'll be a two day trip. Everyone ready?" a response of 'yes' and 'yeah' came from the troupe...

...All except for Luke...

"...Off? Ready...?" Luke asked, not quite understanding what the blonde said.

----

Heh...he almost made it sound like they were _leaving_...They weren't, right?

----

"Yeah," Anise explained, "We don't stay in one place longer than a couple weeks. I mean...sure, maybe we could stay just a little longer and do more than just two shows... But if we stay too long, no matter what we do, it's gonna get boring!"

"Where're we going?"

"Sharlen." Natalia explained, "That's our next stop on the circus route."

"When...When will we come back to Barluu?" the boy asked, feeling his heart begin to flutter faster. He was leaving Barluu...for how long? What about his parents?

"Come back?" Erika asked, seeming confused by the question.

"Y-yeah...When will we be here again?"

"This time next year, duh. We take a year to circle the Phai Continent; we go to almost all of the major cities so..."

"We could do it in less time," Jade explained, "However receiving brakes and plenty of practice time between shows is both appreciated and needed."

"One year...?" The boy mumbled under his breath,

"What? You scared to travel, New Guy?" Asch taunted, Natalia glared sourly at him.

"N-no! Of course not! I...I've just never been out of Barluu before...so..."

"Don't worry; we'll take care of you." Peony's voice assured as the ringmaster walked into the trailer. Mieu hopped from his shoulder, jumping to the arm of the couch. Gai sat down on one of the stools, and Luke followed suit, "Okay everyone, that show went great-- we were completely sold out in tickets!" he then turned to the older redhead whom had stopped rolling his shoulder, "Asch how's your shoulder?"

"Just gimme a roll of gauze." he the boy responded, "If I wrap my shoulder it'll be fine in no time."

"Erika, your arm?"

"Already taken care of." she responded, raising her arm slightly, thus allowing Peony to see the bandage.

"I've heard that The Gods Circus is coming here tomorrow around four or five, so we're leaving at just the right time."

"So that's why Dist was here a few days ago..." Anise muttered.

"They seem to be shortening their schedule," Jade voiced, "Almost as though they're trying to catch up with us just to pose a problem."

"Who're 'The Gods Circus'?" Luke asked,

"Our rivals." Anise responded,

"Yeah, we're unofficial competitors. Each of us tries to get more business than the other." Gai added,

"We'd gladly stay out of their way," Peony explained, not expecting the New Guy to know squat about circus competitors, "Our circus routes wouldn't overlap much. But they seem to want trouble so they always try to catch up to us or down talk our circus."

"Well they sound friendly..." Luke muttered sarcastically.

"Don't worry, New Guy. As long as we get moving tomorrow morning we shouldn't have any problems avoiding them. Alright, so, everyone know what they've got to do?" again 'yes' and 'yeah'. "Alright then, get the trailers ready to go now. The Dark Wings and their assistants will help us finish getting packed up in the morning. Wake up is at 7:30 tomorrow and leave at 12:00 sharp!"

"We really get packed up that fast?" Luke asked, stomach churning nervously,

"Yup. If we didn't have help it'd probably take us days to do it." Gai agreed, "Heck... we may not even be able to run the show. But the Dark Wings have agreed to travel with us and be partners because we give them some of our profit."

"What do they do with it?"

"Last I heard they gave it and the money they get at publicity shows to charity."

"Huh...that sounds nice..." Everyone departed from the trailer, aside from Peony, and went to their trailers to sleep for the night.

-

However just as Luke was almost out of the door, Peony called,

"New Guy, hold up a second."

"Huh?" the redhead allowed the door to close in front of him as he looked back to the ringmaster,

"Are you sure you want to come with us?" he asked, "From your reaction to leaving, it'd be alright if you wanted to stay here."

"R-ringmaster...I..."

"I mean no offense Luke," the boy was slightly shocked that he was called by his real name, "But you're acting somewhat suspicious. I'm willing to bet you know something about the missing noble, don't you?"

"..." Luke's heart was beating so fast he was worried it was going to burst out of his ribcage. Could Peony really already know?

"But, hey, not my business to pry," Peony said, attitude suddenly changing. "Whatever your reasons for joining us; they're your reasons, and you're here. Listen, I'll give you till noon, the time we leave, tomorrow to decide. If you don't want to come then stay here, we understand; but if you do come with us, I won't hear any whining about wanting to go home."

"I...I understand..." Luke responded somewhat meekly,

"Good." the ringmaster nodded, "Alright, see you bright and early, New Guy. Don't think too hard on this, do what you think is right."

"Right..."

---------------

Luke was lying in his bed till two in the morning, trying to decide: Leave with the Circus and possibly follow his dreams? ...Or stay with his parents who already decided what they wanted him to be? Do what he thought was right...Well, what _did_ he think was right? Why was all of this so hard? He ran away on a whim...so why couldn't he keep running just as easily...?

"..." he sighed, unable to think straight with exhaustion fogging his mind. He dropped off into sleep quickly, and had a surprisingly peaceful sleep despite his uncertainty of whether or not to stay at his home...

---------------

"New Guy! Wake up!" Gai's voice ordered. Luke opened his eyes reluctantly to see Gai leaning over him,

"What time is it?" the boy asked groggily as he sat up. Yesterday they all slept in till eight forty-five...

"It's seven thirty, Peony's designated wake-up time." But the boy was slightly confused to see Gai wearing...a new outfit. He wore a tight yellow shirt, over it a navy short-sleeved jacket which matched his pants in color, both had lighter blue designs down the sides. A slanting blue-beaded belt which matched his jacket at pants circled his waist, falling slightly more towards his right; he also wore gloves which matched his shirt in color,

"What're you wearing?" the boy asked,

"These are clothes that Peony bought us," Gai explained, "Here." the blonde dumped an outfit in the boys lap, "Get dressed; everyone else is already out." and with that the blonde left.

Luke was quick to pull on his outfit, finding some aspects were slightly too big. A tight brown...belly-shirt of sorts. Over which a short-sleeved white trench coat with yellow trim was worn; however, due to the buttons the coat opened at about the level the shirt stopped, showing off his abs which made the boy somewhat bashful (he was slightly confused as to why there was a black monster face on the back of the jacket, but chose to ignore it). He also had baggy brown pants with a gold stripe near each knee and simple red shoes; tan gloves which lacked fingers covered his hands. The boy stood, adjusting the belt he was grateful to get as he snatched an --oddly placed-- hair tie from atop the one large dresser which was against the middle wall. He tied his hair into a loose ponytail and jogged out of the door.

The New Guy quickly jogged over to where he thought he saw...Erika moving a crate? It was harder to recognize her when she wasn't wearing her circus uniform. However when she turned slightly he saw a streak of blue; that was Erika

"Hey Erika," the boy asked, tapping her shoulder. When she looked back at him over her shoulder he pointed at himself and asked, "What should I do?"

"Huh? Um..." He was surprised she could lift the crate she was holding, or at least that she could lift it on her own. However it did appear that she was having a bit of trouble, "For starters," she nodded to the other side of the box, "Get the other side of this, it's heavier than I thought."

"Right!" he agreed, jogging around her and putting his hands under the other side of the crate; after evening out the weight he guessed it came close to three hundred pounds. It read 'Bleacher set 1' in burnt black on the top, "Hey, how many of these things are there?" the boy asked as they walked towards a large empty thing resembling a dumpster which was close to the size of a small one-story house; one side was open, a ramp falling to the ground.

"You mean Bleacher sets, or Cargo Holds?" the girl joked, always looking over her shoulder due to the fact that she had to walk backwards,

"Bleacher sets."

"Fifteen. The bleachers are split into 3 sections. Top back, middle, and low front. Boxes one to five, low front, six to ten are the middle and the rest are the back." they slowly navigated up a gentle incline into the 'Cargo Hold' where they set the crate in back with a few other bleacher sets which read 2, 3, 4, and 5. A considerable amount of stuff was already in there despite the fact they hadn't been packing for long. "Thanks, New Guy. That would've taken a lot longer if you didn't help." the girl told him, cracking her knuckles as if carrying the crate had made her hands stiff.

"No problem..." he took a second to look over her outfit so he'd recognize her without having to see the blue in her hair.

Like Gai and himself, her 'casual outfit' was very different from her performance one. She wore a navy-gray turtle-necked top, apparently it was long sleeved. 'Apparently', because over it she wore a black jacket with the collar folded down, however the left sleeve was gone allowing one to see that the shirt sleeve fell to her wrist; a small circle of fake white fur circling where the jacket stopped at her shoulder. While on her right arm a black sleeve covered her shirt all the way to her wrist. The bottom of the shirt fell at her waist, half-hiding a belt which secured her navy jeans; she also black boots laced up to her knees which her jeans tucked in to. Her gloves were like Luke's, however they were black and a square was cut out of thee back.

"Hey. If you're checking me out, quit it" Erika told him, leaning an elbow against the crate. She had to lean over slightly, considering the crate only came to her waist; she put the back of her other hand against her hip as if to look annoyed.

"Wha--!?" Luke turned a shade of light crimson, "N-no-! No I wasn't--Y-you just look different like this s-so...!" she seemed to glare at him, however her glare turned into a smile when she laughed,

"I'm just kidding New Guy. Calm down." she told him. She punched him in the shoulder in a friendly gesture as she walked by. The girl probably didn't mean any harm, but she really underestimated her strength and Luke rubbed his shoulder as he followed her out of the cargo hold. "I know, we all look different when we're not in our uniforms. It take's me a while to get used to the new outfits too."

"Are you all alone with those boxes?" he asked, "Jade was supposed to be helping. But Peony called him away, so..."

"I'll do it." the boy volunteered,

"Thanks."

------------

Ten minutes later all the crates were loaded in the back of the cargo hold. However as the pair left they had to move to allow the troupe of six Tokunaga by. One held the safety net, the next three held may boards, the nest two held two panels each, which resembled parts of a roof. The last one carried a few large tool boxes in its arms.

But...where was Anise? The leader wasn't there.

"Hey, where's Anise?" Luke asked,

"Anise?" Erika scratched the side of her head, putting her other hand on her hip. "Oh," the girl pulled her hand from her waist and pointed to Peony's trailer, "She's cooking breakfast today."

"In there?" Luke asked.

"The normal building where we would cook is taken down when they take down the supply shack." Erika explained, "We just saw the Tokunaga carry _that_ in. So we all eat in Peony's trailer in the morning. Then two of Anise's Toku get his trailer, and the rest work with a fontech robot that Gai assembles to move the cargo hold."

"What about our trailers?" the boy asked, obviously curious,

"Jade makes golems that get those." Erika responded simply, "Hmm...Gai might need help," she pointed just beyond Peony's trailer, "He's making his robot over there, go see if you can help."

"Sure!" the boy agreed excitedly, quickly jogging away. Erika chuckled softly,

"Damn he gets excited fast..."

"Erika!" Peony's voice exclaimed, the ringmaster was standing near the tent,

"Huh?"

"Come on!" the man ordered, the rest of the troupe (minus Asch and Natalia) at his side as well as three extra people whom she recognized as: Noir, York and Urushi. "We're taking down the tent!"

"Wha-? Already?" she asked,

"Things have been moving smoothly," Jade explained, "Natalia and Asch are loading the tightrope, trapeze and props now." one Tokunaga dashed by them into the tent, this one going to retrieve the ladders.

"I wanted you to help with props, and then bring them into the trailer. After that help us with the tent, alright?" Peony explained,

"Sure thing." the girl assured, then jogged towards the far end of the circus tent.

------------------

"So? Are you going to stay?" Gai asked. After Luke got over his amazement at seeing Gai making a robot just slightly smaller than Tokunaga, the boy began helping him by passing up tools to the blondes perch on the robots back. While doing such, he explained what Peony had spoken about last night.

"I don't know..." the boy handed up a wrench, "I really want to... but... I mean, I've never left..."

"I can understand why you're scared." Gai told him, nodding as he tightened a bolt in the robots back, "I was pretty scared to when I left...It was the first time I left my hometown too."

"What'd you do?" the boy asked, taking back the wrench when the blonde passed it down. He then handed him a screwdriver and continued his question, "How'd you get over it...?"

"I told myself that I shouldn't be so worried." he explained, "I just...promised myself that we'd come back every year...and that'd I'd make a bunch of friends on the road so..."

"Did it work?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" the blonde smiled down at his friend, "But hey, you just do what you want to...It's not my place to make you stay or go..." he hopped from the robots back, "That's enough for now...I'll finish it later."

"So what do we do?"

"Let's go find the ringmaster. He'll have a job for us, I'm sure."

However after locating the ringmaster at 9:00, he said it was break time, and also time for breakfast. Luke almost wished that someone would put pressure on him, that someone would press him to stay with the circus...that might make deciding easier...but alas, they thought that putting pressure on him would be a bad idea; leaving Luke to decide on his own.

"Shouldn't deciding whether I'm gonna stay or go be easy?" the boy asked his blonde friend. The two were sitting next to each other at the counter as they ate breakfast,

"Who knows...?" Gai responded, "It wasn't too easy for me...but it got a little better after I set my mind on it."

--

"Blasphemy!!" Peony's voice yelled from outside,

"?" Luke looked towards the door, fork hanging from his lips, "What's going on out there?"

"Noir is probably saying something's wrong." Erika responded simply, poking eggs around on her plate with the end of her fork,

"Yes...Something does seem to go wrong when everything moves so smoothly like this..." Natalia agreed,

"What do you think it is?"

"40 gald: Someone packed something wrong in the Cargo Hold, so now the tarps for the big-top and everything else we haven't packed up yet won't fit." Anise chimed up,

"I say 50: Taking the big-top down will take all of us until past noon because one of their machines broke down..._again_." Erika challenged,

"60 gald: The just realized that something in the big top is broken so it's too dangerous to take down right now and we've gotta wait." Asch barked,

"Oh come on," Gai groaned, "Don't start betting again!!"

"Again?" Luke questioned.

"100: The Cargo Hold or one of the Trailers is too heavy." Jade announced, his bet being the last,

"Aw...Jade bet," Anise pouted, "Now _we're_ gonna loose for sure!!"

"Huh...?" the redhead looked around confused,

"Jade's got good luck with gambling." Erika explained, "Even better luck than me and Anise." /Anise _gambles_? Shes thirteen!!\ Luke thought, "Almost every time he bets against us, he wins." Jade merely smiled, chuckling softly.

-------

In the end, Jade won the bet.

With all of the extra props that Peony (apparently) purchased, the Dark Wings leader, a pink-haired woman named Noir, was worried that they wouldn't be able to move it.

"Blasphemy, I tell you!" Peony barked again, "If the cargo hold is too heavy, we'll put some of the props in the trailers! Jade's golems can move almost anything, it'll be fine!"

"...I'm absolutely flattered." Jade sighed, adjusting his glasses.

"Alright...We'll move a couple of the props boxes into the boys and girls trailers." Noir agreed.

"You heard her: Erika, Asch, Gai!"

"Why do I always have to do heavy moving...?" Erika muttered under her breath. They followed a short fat man with a cane, Urushi, to the Cargo Hold so that he could tell them what they had to move.

"The rest of you!" Peony barked, getting attention turned back to him, "We're taking down the big top!"

---------

Two hours later, the time 11:30, the big top was down, the tarps composing it separated into multiple sixty by twenty-fine foot rectangles which were rolled up and put in the Cargo Hold. A handful of the heavier prop boxes had been removed, being put in the trailers.

"Alright, New Guy." Peony said, "You've got thirty minutes but...to save us the tension, what do you want to do?"

"...I've been thinking about it for a while now, and...And I'm..." he sighed, and then announced determinedly,

"I'm Going With You!"  
--

Noon:

Jade and Erika worked together to summon a two bulky figures of stone from the ground, however the girl then dropped back and allowed the man to finish. The golems' black eyes sparkled, one then stomped over to the boy's trailer which had been set up on jacks to put two wheels on each side at the end opposite the golem; while the other went to the girl's trailer. The girl's trailer, Peony's trailer and Cargo Hold had recieved the same treatment.

Nebilim, Nephry, Saphir and Mieu were all in Peony's trailer for the move; however the rappigs never enjoyed the move.

Five mahogany coaches, each pulled by two odd dinosaurs, came to a stop near the troupe. Gai's robot was up and working, it and four Tokunaga manning the Cargo Hold while the other two got to Peony's trailer... Luke stared at the blank space; just a few hours ago an entire circus had been set up there...

"It's amazing isn't it?" Tear asked, walking next to him. Her new outfit was white, the bottom splitting at a V and showing her naval and then dropping down behind her like something of a cape. Over her hands she wore black gloves with white arm-coverings which almost extended to her shoulders. However, in something of a contrast, her pants were purple with hot pink designs. "How quickly we move...and then it's as though we'd never been here."

"It's almost...scary." he voiced; she nodded understandingly,

"...You should get in your coach."

"Huh?" looked back, seeing Asch, Gai and Jade climbing into one of the coaches; while Anise, Erika and Natalia climbed into another. The Dark Wings crew took up two more coaches; while Peony got his own.

Luke climbed into the coach which was apparently deemed 'the boys' and sat next to Gai, across from Jade. He then got a better look at Jade and Asch.

Jade wore a bluish green outfit over a high-necked black shirt; he also wore boot-coverings which extended up to his thigh, decorated in gold. His outfit reminded Luke of a military uniform for some reason; however he almost looked like a military official while wearing it...

Asch's outfit was black with red designs; it, too, looked like some form of uniform, however not one of a military like Jade's. Out of all of them, if Luke could change outfits, he would either want one like Gai's or one like Erika's.

---

With a jolt the coaches began moving, there was a soft rumble as the golems, Tokunaga and robot kicked into gear and worked to pull the trailers and Cargo Hold. Luke watched as Barluu slowly grew smaller...and smaller...and smaller... After two hours the city was entirely out of sight, and Luke felt like...something had been lifted from him. Now, he felt free. He relaxed back in his seat, getting more and more excited as he thought about traveling. But then he realized, with him gone his parents would start looking for him; they'd recognize him easily like this. The noble's son had to change something... Something easy to change and fix. But what...?

* * *

Remember, 'Blasphemy will appear in eeeeeeeeeeeevery chapter!'

Gai: When can I cuddle with Luke?  
Ed: Gimme time, gimme time, you'll both cuddle...Just wait  
Gai: Yeay. :)


	5. 5: Haircut and WTH?

The Nightmare Before Christmas belongs to Disney

This is Halloween belongs to...Danny Elfman? Or whoever it was that thought it up. I don't remember...

* * *

That night the troupe had the fortune of stopping at a campsite; there wasn't much there other than poorly manned _facilities_ (which every member of the troupe was grateful for the fact that the boy's and girl's trailers each had their own bathroom), and four big logs set around a circle of stones in which one would start a fire. The trailers came to a stop, the golems disappearing into the ground on a command from Jade; Gai shut off his robot and the six Tokunaga sat on the ground next to the Cargo Hold, seeming to automatically shut off, for they did not move again.

----------

Luke looked at his reflection in the mirror, then the knife in his hand which he had stolen from the kitchen. He was leaving Barluu and the life as a noble, he couldn't still look like a noble...he might be recognized... The boy sighed once, taking another deep breath to muster his courage.

He grabbed his long hair firmly at shoulder length, moving the knife behind his head. The blade cut quickly through the strands of hair, being relatively painless; he brought his hands back in front of him, the knife in one hand, and the long severed strands in the other. Luke stared down at his cut hair, choosing to ignore the sections around his face which were still considerably long. His hand shook slightly as he let the longer strands of red drop down into the trashcan. After looking at himself in the mirror he hardly recognized himself; it was good...but at the same time, scary.

Not caring so much about the knife, Luke dropped it into the trashcan...Only, it missed, landing on the floor; however boy paid it no mind as he re-styled his bangs. He sighed once again,

"Okay...here I go..." he walked to the bathroom door, turning off the light and walking outside.

"!" Tear gasped softly realizing Luke had short hair, "L-Luke! Your hair!" that was the cue for everyone to take a closer look at the boy,

"Nice haircut New Guy." Erika told him, "You look better with shorter hair." he thought he heard Asch grunt,

"Tch..." followed by, "He still looks like an idiot..." choosing to ignore Asch, Luke concentrated on what Erika said.

"Heh..." Luke scratched the back of his head,

"You can't cut hair worth a shit." Asch told him, tossing the stick that he had been drawing in the dirt with into the fire.

"..." the 'flying-man' gave Asch an unimpressed glare, a frown to match his glare spreading over his lips, before turning back to the New Guy.

"Hey, come sit here." Gai ordered, pointing to the ground in front of where he was sitting, "I'll be right back."

"Why-?"

"Just sit, New Guy!" Anise ordered. The boy sat on the ground while Gai went back into the boy's trailer. Luke couldn't help but...feel bad for his parents. He had just planned to run away for a while to teach them a lesson, but then come back. Now he was going to be gone...for a year?

"What's wrong?" Natalia asked,

"Huh?" the boy looked up,

"Your face." she explained, "Just now you looked...sad..."

"Oh...I-it's just...I-I've never been out of Barluu before...so..."

"Don't worry," Tear assured, giving the boy a reassuring smile, "We'll be here."

"After all, all you have to worry about is getting mugged, maimed, killed, raped... Oh my, that last one sounds unpleasant." Jade voiced. Instead of sitting on the 'log seats' he was sitting on the ground, choosing to lean his back against the log; Erika sat next to him,

"Jade! Stop it!" the girl ordered, elbowing him in the ribs, "You're scaring him!"

"Oh, ow...ow...my ribs..." he moaned; it was the most bullshit moan that Luke had ever heard. He didn't think that even _he_ could be less convincing.

"Oh be quiet." she ordered, folding her arms and leaning against his side, "I didn't hit you that hard..."

"I suppose not. But I _am _old you know, so I'm sensitive to your 'rough housing'."

"Thirty-five isn't old." she responded plainly, "Besides, I say you're lying about your age." Luke then became curious as to how old Erika was... /She looks twenty-one...Just like Gai.\ the boy decided.

"Agreed." Asch piped up, "What kinda thirty-five year old dosn't look a day over twenty-six?"

"Aw, you're so kind." Jade said with a smirk, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He also took the opportunity to drape his free arm around the girl's shoulders pulling her slightly closer,

"...We walked right into that." the girl said, arms folded in her lap, not fighting the contact; however she was doing her best to look as though she wasn't very comfortable, or happy (despite the fact that she was).

"Yeah we did..." the redhead agreed in grumble.

"Alright." Gai announced, walking from the trailer, a pair of scissors in his hand.

"H-hey--what are you doing?" Luke asked as Gai reclaimed his seat behind him,

"No offense, but you did a really crappy job at cutting your hair," the blonde explained, "I'll even out the ends."

"Oh, th-thanks." the younger redhead thanked, turning his back to the blonde. He a shiver almost tingled up his spine when he felt Gai rest a hand on the back of his head; however the blonde merely pushed slightly, causing Luke to look down into his lap.

The redhead listened to the sound the scissors made as they snipped away at his hair; he was no longer Luke fon Fabre. He was no longer Luke fon Fabre the noble. He was now just Luke. He was now Luke the trapeze artist. The thought of not seeing his home for a year almost scared him--however he then thought of his friends.

Tear

Natalia

Erika

Anise

Gai

Jade

Peony

Mieu

Hell, even Asch...

The fear he felt faded and he felt better, knowing he wasn't alone...he had friends. Without realizing it Luke leaned his head back slightly, resulting in Gai barely nicking the back of his neck,

"Ow-!" even if it was barely a nick, the boy's neck was sensitive.

"S-sorry." the blonde apologized quickly, lightly pressing the pad of his thumb against the nick, "You leaned your head back while I was cutting, so..."

"D-don't worry about it." the redhead assured quickly, "I-is it bleeding?" he felt his friend pull his hand from his neck,

"Nope...just a little scratch." he continued cutting the boys hair and Luke began to wonder just how much he was going to cut off, "Turn to the side."

"...?" the boy did what he ordered. He a faint shade of pink splashed over his cheeks when he felt the backs of Gai's fingers barely brush against his cheek as the blonde picked up the longer lock of hair next to his face that he had missed. Gai noticed the boy's blush, but chose to ignore it as he cut the red strands of hair. However the blonde did note that Luke's hair was surprisingly soft and almost wondered why he cut it. After Luke turned around the blonde finished the cutting, just piling the hair on the ground,

"There, all done."

"That looks better." Erika told him. Natalia and Tear nodded in agreement,

"At least all his hair is the same length." Asch responded.

"It's a little long in back...you might wanna tie it or something." Gai voiced, to which Luke nodded,

"Thanks Gai."

"No problem."

"Why'd you cut your hair, New Guy?" Anise asked,

"I...I thought it might get in the way...so..." the boy responded, scratching the back of his head,

"Maybe Asch should try it..." Jade said thoughtfully,

"I see you near a pair of scissors; I'm breaking both your hands." Asch spat.

"Well on the bright side, it's easier to tell the two apart now." Peony voiced, walking from his trailer. He explained that tomorrow they'd wake up at 8:00 and leave at 8:45. They'd get to Sharlen around seven that night and they'd go out for dinner.

-----------------

When the group departed to their trailers at 11:00, Luke found that he was still wide awake. However Gai, Asch and Jade were tired, so after changing they went straight to bed...However Luke was left lying awake, staring at the ceiling.

"Hmm...Wonder what Sharlen will be like...?"

Luke heard a faint tune coming from the girl's trailer...

Bum...bum...bum...bum-bum bum...bum...bum...bum-bum bum... Slowly, the tune buzzing in his ears, the boy fell asleep.

However his dream was a very...strange one. The boy found himself lying--er-- somewhere. The redhead sat up, looking around confused. The world around him was entirely pitch black aside from a few gravestones in the distance; a large fire crackled in front of him. The troupe was standing around the fire, seeming somewhat...scary.

"Guys...?" a haunting tune slowly picked up out of nowhere, soon becoming loud. It was the tune that he had fallen asleep to, but now it was joined by a lot of other background noises.

"Boys and girls of ev-ery age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?" Jade sang, causing Luke great confusion. The man threw a handful of powder into the fire, causing it to flare high, its flames turning blue.

"Come with us and you will see, this our town of Halloween." Gai added

"This is Halloween, This is Halloween." Natalia, Tear and Erika chimed in.

"Pumpkin screams in the dead of night!" Anise exclaimed,

"This is Halloween, everybody make a scene!" the trio finished

"Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright." Asch put in /This is the most fucked up dream I've ever had...!! \ However, he did note that everyone had surprisingly good singing voices,

"It's our town. Everybody Scream!"

"In this town of Halloween." Jade finished, smirking.

"I am the one hiding under your bed." Gai said, striking a scary pose, "Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red." As he said 'teeth ground sharp' his teeth became fangs, his eyes turning red as well.

"I am the one hiding under your stairs. Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!" Natalia added. Her fingers grew longer, appearing like snakes as she spoke her part.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween. Halloween, Halloween. Halloween, Halloween..."

"In this town, we call home," Erika picked up, "Everyone hail to the pumpkin song."

"In this town, don't we love it now; everybody's waiting for the next surprise." Asch finished. Every time Asch sang Luke reassured himself that this was a dream.

"Round that corner man, hiding in the trashcan," Jade started,

"Something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll Scream!" Anise exclaimed.

"This is Halloween," Jade,

"Red and black!" Anise,

"And slimy green." Erika,

"Aren't you scared?" Tear asked,

"Well that's just fine!" Natalia assured. /Where the hell do I come up with this shit!?\

"Say it once, say it twice." the two girls had a duet. They threw a pair of die ah him as they said, "Take a chance and roll the dice. Ride with the moon in the dead of night." a full moon rose behind them,

"Everybody scream," Asch ordered, "Everybody scream!!"

"In our town of Halloween..." the trio of girls finished. Now it was Tear's turn. She struck a surprisingly intimidating pose through the fire,

"I am the clown with the tear-away face." she pulled off his own face, showing her skull underneath which made Luke yelp in fright, "Here in a flash and gone without a trace!" in a flash from another handful of Jade's powder Tear was gone.

"I am the 'who' when you call Who's there?" Erika said, making 'whose there' sound like it was coming from a person wary of a follower. The sorcerer stood just behind her,

"I am the wind blowing through your hair!" a gust of wind shot by both of them, ruffling their hair.

"I am the shadow of the moon at night," Asch announced, seeming somewhat scarier than normal, "Filling your dreams to the brim with fright!!" Luke yelped again when bats flew from around the older redhead.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween. Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween... Halloween..." there was a brief pause, and Anise picked up.

"Tender lumplings ev-ery where. Life's no fun without a good scare."

"That's our job," Gai said,

"But we're not mean," Natalia finished.

"In our town of Halloween."

"In this town," Jade said, "Don't we love it now; everyone's waiting for the next surprise!

"Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back, and scream like a banshee! Make you jump out of your skin!" Anise exclaimed. Luke screamed when Peony, now a skeleton (however he still had hair and wore the same clothes) stepped towards the fire. He held a katana in one hand, a strange flag in the other.

"This is Halloween, everyone scream!" the girls said. Tear had reappeared a short while ago; however she now had her face back.

"Won't you please make way for a very special guy?" Guy and Jade said at once, bowing, and stepping out of the way for the ringmaster.

"Our man jack is King of the Pumpkin patch!" Tear said/Pumpkin...?\

"Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!" Natalia ordered. The ringmaster proceeded to do some form of demented dance, sometimes drawing so close to the blue fire Luke worried he would burn. The flag caught on fire and soon became a banner of blue flame as he danced.

"This is Halloween, this is Halloween. Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!"

"In this town we call home. Everyone hail to the pumpkin song." Anise sang, then the whole group sang at once,

"La la la la-la-- La la la la-la-- La la la la-la-- La la la--La la la! WOOO!!" the fire exploded to incredible heights, each one of them turning into some form of monster.

-------

"BLASPHEMYYYYYYYYY!" he fell, "Ow!" Luke found himself lying on his stomach on the floor. He propped himself on one elbow and rubbed where his forehead had collided with the floor,

"N-New Guy!" Gai called,

"...With his screaming I had hopped a monster was attacking." Jade's voice groaned, he then sighed, "Oh well..."

"Shut up, New Guy!" Asch barked, "We're trying to sleep!"

"Come on, leave him alone." Gai ordered defensively, "We've all had nightmares before."

"Phht..." Asch spat.

"Hey, you okay?" A lamp was turned on, resulting in groans from Jade and Asch. Luke flinched, squinting to get used to the light. He was lying on the floor next to his bed, the sheets wrapped around him and tangled in his legs. Asch and Jade turned from the light, trying to get back to sleep, while Gai kneeled next to the boy, "You okay?"

"Y-yeah--yeah..." he looked at Gai, then saw a flash of 'the monster under your bed' with red eyes and pointed teeth. Luke tried to wiggle out from the sheets, trying not to think about the monsters that Jade and Asch were supposed to be

"Here, lemme help." Gai asked, pulling at the sheet to try and loosen it,

"Th-thanks, Gai." the boy was able to wiggle out from the sheets and helped his friend untangle them,

"Right...Get back to sleep New Guy. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Gai said as Luke fixed the sheets and the blonde returned to his bed. "Don't worry. Nightmares aren't real." Luke laid back down, but his eyes shot open when he heard Jade humming the tune...

"Hmm, hmm, hmm, hm-hm, hmm..."

"Shut up!!" Asch ordered, Jade chuckled in response and then fell silent. The boy half-expected to see a pillow flying at Jade, however that didn't happen. Luke stayed awake for a while after that, shaking; until he drifted off to sleep.

-----------

"I've heard that tune..." Erika told Luke as she cooked breakfast. Luke had explained his dream, after many stops because of laughter and need for explanation. "But, uh...I don't remember where..."

"Yes, so have I." Tear agreed,

"Me too." Natalia finished

"Really...? I thought he made it up." Gai voiced,

"Nope." the black haired girl responded,

"I've got it, actually." Tear voiced, "It's from a movie called The Nightmare before Christmas. The song is called: This is Halloween."

"But I've never heard it...so how could I...?" Luke asked

"I borrowed her CD last night..." Anise admitted, "I wanted some music to listen to, because I couldn't fall asleep. So I started playing it."

"I didn't hear it..." Natalia voiced,

"You three were sleeping already." Anise explained.

"I get it..." Tear sighed, "You and Anise were the only two awake, you must have fallen asleep listening to it and listened to the song subconsciously."

"I particularly enjoy the tune," Jade told him, "So sorry, had I known humming the tune would have caused you fright...Well, actually, I suppose I would have done it anyway."

"Gee, thanks..." Luke told the older man, glaring at him from across the table.

"Just ignore him, New Guy." Gai said, "We do."

-----

After breakfast had been served and eaten the older black haired girl began to clean the dishes, while the rest of the group continued talking. Asch stood and left, saying he was going to the bathroom.

"So, you're really ready for anything?" Tear questioned, asking about how Luke had said he was so determined to practice and train.

"Yup." Luke responded confidently, raising his glass of orange juice to his lips,

"That's strange..." Erika voiced, looking to the kitchen-knife holder which sat next to the stove. One slot was empty.

"What is it?" Natalia asked, looking back at Erika over her shoulder. She put one hand on her waist, pointing the other at the knife holder.

"I just noticed...We're missing a kn--"

"WHY THE HELL IS THERE A KITCHEN KNIFE IN THE _BATHROOM_?!" Asch's voice screamed, cutting Erika off.

Luke choked on his orange juice.

* * *

Tada :)

Review's would be appreciated!!


	6. 6: Flyer Duty in the New City

Yeah, I know. It's been an eternity since my last update. School sucks XP

Thanks, reviewers!

* * *

/_"Alright, get in your coaches; next stop: Sharlen." Peony looked around thoughtfully at the group. "Once we get there it'll be set up and posting flyers."_

_ "So who's gonna do what?" Anise asked,_

_ "Hmm...Let's see: Asch, and Erika. And uh...Gai and New Guy. You four have Flyer Duty this time." Peony decided  
_

_ "Right..." Erika mumbled, rolling her head from side to side as she tried to stretch her stiff neck,_

_ "Fun...woo..." Asch twirled a sarcastic finger in the air, his other hand cradling his chin._

_ "Flyer duty...?" Luke asked, reaching a hand behind his head and twirling his short ponytail around one finger; he still wasn't used to not having his long hair,_

_ "We go around the city posting flyers advertising our show." Gai explained patiently, "Everyone else will help set up the trailers and the mess hall while we post flyers for Cirque de Auldrant around the city. We'll all work together to put up the tent tomorrow."_\

Luke found he was far more tired than he thought he was after Peony had finished his announcements and they had begun moving again. He'd been dozing for the first hour of the coach-ride to Sharlen, soon after which he fell asleep again.

"My, my, my..." Jade's voice commented as Luke began to stir awake. His head leaned against something which functioned as a pillow for him. He was still half asleep and couldn't remember if he'd had a pillow when he fell asleep or not. "The New Guy certainly is a hard sleeper, isn't he?"

"C'mon, Jade," Gai's voice asked. He sounded close...had Luke been that close to Gai when he fell asleep? "He's just tired. Let him sleep."

"But it's been over an hour...I'm surprised you haven't made him move."

"Just leave him alone, will you?"

"Ha--I knew he wasn't straight." Asch finished, this comment caused Luke great confusion. What the hell were they talking about? Luke opened his eyes slowly.

His head was leaning against Gai's shoulder-- it must have happened after he fell asleep.

"Well, well," Jade chuckled, "He's awake." Luke bolted up straight, sitting rigidly and clutching the seat cushion. His face was stained as dark as his hair and he couldn't bring himself to look at Gai. While the blonde angrily told Asch and Jade to stop laughing, the noble's son slouched forward as though his embarrassment was pushing on his shoulders and weighing him down.

"Gai...?" he asked softly,

"What is it?" the blonde asked after Jade and Asch had finally fallen silent.

"S-...sorry about...that..."

"Don't worry about it." Gai assured, flashing Luke a kind smile before looking out of the window again.

After close to an hour of riding in silence, Luke asked,

"Uh...how much further until Sharlen?"

"I'd say thirty minutes, maybe." Jade responded, examining the passing landscape through one of the coach windows. The girl's coach was ahead of the guy's; the Cargo Hold and trailers following the coaches. Ringmaster Peony was sitting with the driver of the girl's coach, giving him directions. Well, either that or bothering the hell out of him.

"...How far are we from Barluu...?" he asked,

"Maybe a...twelve hour ride?" Gai responded somewhat thoughtfully.

"If you wanna go back home, then get out and start walking." Asch ordered.

"I-I'm not going back!" Luke argued, "...I-I just wanted to know, that's all." Asch grunted skeptically and looked out of the window,

"My, my, Asch," Jade commented, putting his left leg over his right, "You seem to hate the New Guy slightly more than you hate the rest of this troupe."

"The one I really hate is _you_." Asch barked in an annoyed tone. Jade chuckled softly, pushing up his glasses,

"That's so harsh," he commented, "It's like you're _trying_ to hurt my feelings."

As Luke stared out of the window for the next half-hour he watched the sparse trees thin slightly, then saw the occasional house here and there... His eyes widened as he finally saw Sharlen. It was smaller than Barluu, almost a third of the size. Most of the city was on level ground, but at the middle of the city it seemed to swell up slightly, as though the very middle was on a hill.

"Why'd that one part of the city higher up?" Luke asked, the tip of his nose pressed on the window of the coach,

"No one knows," Gai responded simply.

"They say that there used to be a castle in Sharlen," Jade explained, "They built the castle on that hill, then hollowed out the hill under it and turned it into a torture chamber..." Luke felt his face going pale as Jade began to go into detail about the methods of torture they used.

"R-really...?" the boy asked meekly,

"Or at least that's what I've heard." Jade's smirk seemed to widen as he said that. Luke caught Asch mumble the word 'asshole' as he looked outside; he also seemed to have turned slightly pale.

"I swear," Gai sighed, "It's too hard to tell what you're thinking..."

"Especially if you're joking or not." Luke agreed.

Soon the carriage came to a halt, and Luke was the first to get out, stretching gratefully. He looked around the unfamiliar surroundings; he couldn't see the coast anywhere near them, like he could from Barluu. In the far distance the silhouettes of mountains made the horizon line bumpy. He heard Tear answer Anise's question of 'what time is it' with 'about one-o-clock. The redhead had zoned out so much while staring at his surroundings that the sudden pile of flyers shoved in his arms knocked him over.

"Wah--!"

"Sorry." Peony apologized, "Thought you knew I was handing you your flyers, New Guy."

"D-don't worry about it..." Luke glanced down at the flyers. It looked like the sign for the circus, only in miniature. He noticed, heart fluttering excitedly, that the "Trapeze Artists Extraordinaire" had been changed; now Luke and Asch hung from the trapeze, spanning the words between them, and Natalia stood atop the words. The picture took up the top 3/4 of the page, at the bottom of the picture, written in big curving letters, read "Cirque de Auldrant". Below that it had four, each about two days apart; the first show was in about a week and a half; "Located: Right outside of Sharlen!" /_So very descriptive..._\ he mumbled mentally. The redhead tucked the flyers under his right arm as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"Alright, you four get going." Peony ordered, "While you're out, look for someplace we could probably eat tonight, ya?"

"Will do." Gai promised. He, Asch and Erika all held flyers similar to Luke's.

The four walked somewhat quietly to Sharlen, it was about a five minute walk to the edge of the city.

"So where do we post these?" Luke asked,

"Coffee shops, restaurants, light posts..." Erika responded vaguely, "Really, anywhere you can put them." she looked to the redhead whom still had long hair, "Hey Asch, how about you go with me and the New Guy and Gai go together."

"As long as I don't have to be with that dreck, I'm fine." Asch responded, Luke glared at him.

The two pairs split up upon entering the city; Luke soon discovered that posting flyers around the city wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be. Had he not had a partner, he would've gotten lost in the city and probably never found his way back out. He felt somewhat let down when he saw this city wasn't very different from Barluu; the main difference was no castle and no knights.

After an hour of posting flyers his arms were getting tired,

"How much longer?" he whined to Gai. He'd just handed a flyer to an old man,

"Until we run out of these," the blonde explained simply. They each had about twenty flyers left, it probably wouldn't take too much longer to post the flyers and be done with it. Luke looked around for a new building to post flyers in...

"Huh?" his eyes fell on a one story building; a neon sign above the door was out, leaving him unable to read what it said; however a sign on the window said 'The Dizzy Penguin'. /_The Dizzy...?_\ there was no 'open' sign in the window, but he saw a few lights on inside, so it probably wasn't closed. "H-hey Gai," Luke pointed to the building when the blonde looked back, "I'll go post some flyers in there."

"Sure, I'll wait here." the blonde responded.

"E-excuse me...?" Luke poked his head in the door; 'The Dizzy Penguin' seemed to be deserted, "Hello?" many tables were spread out around the open floor, some with wooden chairs stacked on the table, others surrounded by cushioned booth-seats. Various funny pictures and posters covered the walls, a few blue lamps hung, off, from the ceiling. What few lights were on were the lights over a long bar table,

"Hey, we're not open yet. Read the sign, restaurant opens at 5, bar opens at 5:30." A man called from within the empty building. Luke found him standing behind the bar cleaning glasses. He had short sandy blonde hair, just long enough to be pulled back in a tiny ponytail, his eyes were cloudy gray and faint stubble grew along his jaw line; he wore a black short sleeved shirt with a short collar, an apron tied around his waist, and hanging down over his navy jeans as if to protect them should a customer spill a drink. /_If it's not open until five why's he already here...? It's only two..._\

"S-sorry, I didn't come to eat or anything-- I'm passing out fliers." Luke explained,

"For what?" the man asked, setting the glass he had been cleaning down on the counter.

"The--" he paused, "_Our_ circus--Cirque de Auldrant." he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He separated out a few flyers and handed them to the man when he walked over, "Here, would you mind...posting them...?" the blonde looked over the flyers skeptically, Luke noticed a nametag pinned onto his black shirt, it said 'Bartender' on one line, outlined in red; then beneath it in dark blue, was written 'Joe'. Next to the name was a penguin.

"...Eh, sure...why not." he shrugged, "I'll ask the owner, we'll post them."

"Th-thanks. Oh--hey, this is a restaurant right?"

"Yeah." Joe said, somewhat slowly, as he nodded; the slow way he said it made Luke feel stupid.

"Right..." then Luke left.

"So, any luck?" Gai asked,

"Yeah--and, I know where we can eat tonight." the nobles son said.

* * *

Trust me, the next chapter is gonna be nothing but absolute randomness 8D 


	7. 7: The Dizzy Penguin PT1

I know, I forgot to say 'blasphemy' in the last chapter...:(

Don't worry!! I'll have it twice in this chapter!  
BTW: **This Chapter Is So Long, I'm Splitting It Into 2 Parts!!!!**

* * *

Along the way into the city Gai nearly had a small run-in with a woman; however, at the last moment, he leapt out of the way, cowering behind Jade.

"Gai?" Luke asked,

"That's a little...quirk he has," Jade said, "Gai can't stand being near women."

"N-no--" the blonde argued, stepping away from Jade, "I can be near them--I-I just can't stand them touching me--eeee!!"

"What like this?" Erika leaned her elbow on the blondes shoulder, examining the nails of her other hand idly. Gai stiffened severely; mouth twisted like he wanted to scream, and eyes wide,

"Ya-hhhaaaa!! Get off!!" he sprung away grabbing onto the nearest lamppost, "Erika! Don't do that--please!!"

"Sorry." the girl said, "I just thought I'd _show_ Luke what's up with you, eh?"

"Wh-what's up wi--"

"It's Blasphemy!" Anise said, "Why're you so afraid?!"

"I don't know!" the blonde said, climbing down from the lamppost.

Ten minutes letter...

"Is this the place...?" Tear asked, peering up at a blue neon sign of a stumbling penguin, a black-neon top hat sitting atop his head and a green-neon necktie tied around his neck, holding a small martini glass with a yellow-neon lemon wedge stuck on one edge. Beneath it, in magenta neon, it said 'The Dizzy Penguin'.

"Yeah--I saw it while I was handing out flyers today..." Luke said, he felt a little proud when he saw one of the Cirque de Auldrant flyers stuck in one of the windows. "Its--"

"A bar." Natalia said, reading the small sign on the door which said 'Bar/Tavern.' one beneath it said, 'ID all those who appear to be under 21 if you want Alcohol --I don't want to be sued--'

"How nice, she's watching out for our health." Jade said, somewhat sarcastically, as he adjusted his glasses,

"More like she's watching out for herself..." Guy responded, "She just doesn't want to get sued."

"Let's go in!" Anise suggested cheerfully.

"What?!" Luke demanded,

"What 'what'? I said: Let's go In!"

"New Guy's right," the blonde agreed, "Erika, Jade and I are the only ones actually old enough to drink. Why would you all want to come in here?"

"It's a _tavern_, too." the little girl argued with a sly smirk, "Let's just eat dinner here--we don't have to drink..." she glanced to Erika somewhat hopefully,

"I'm not buying you any alcohol, Anise." Erika told her flatly, "No way. Not after how mad Peony was last time when we found you passed out in a field." the girl gave her an annoyed pout,

"Humph...you're no fun!" /_Wh-what kind of person gives a Thirteen-year-old Alcohol!?_\ Luke thought, staring at Erika,

"Wh-what?" the girl asked, "S-Stop looking at me like that!"

"Well, even if it is a bar--Anise had a point..." Tear said, "At the very least, we can eat here tonight... Let's go in."

"Alright..." everyone agreed somewhat reluctantly. Suddenly a man burst out of the door, he was around somewhat close to six feet tall, and he had shaggy brown hair and a neck-beard. A red cape was tied around his shoulders and a plush spider clutched in one hand,  
"I'm not Steve!" he exclaimed towards the group, "I'm Super Steve!!!" he thrust the spider forward, "This is my pet spider--his name is Peppy!! He Likes To Eat MELONS!!!!" he then took off running into the street where he was almost hit by a police car which screeched to a halt. A somewhat short tan man with short black hair jumped out of the car, a stun gun in one hand. He chased the drunken man down the street and out of sight. Luke noticed that the police car said 'PolicemanMobile'.

One of Luke's eyes twitched as he stared after them,

"W-what the...?" he asked softly. He was about to head back to the circus, appetite practically gone, when someone firmly grasped the back of his jacket,

"C'mon, New Guy." Gai's voice said; the blonde tugged the back of the boy's jacket. Luke groaned softly, but followed once his jacket had been released.

The inside looked the same as it had earlier that day, however now it was lit; the light was slightly dim, and a touch orangey; the lights over the bar seemed to be just a little brighter. People were sitting at most of the tables, waiters and waitresses walking around. A girl wearing glasses with blondish hair held up by a clamp on the back of her head was standing by a small desk which said 'Wait to be seated'. The nametag she wore said 'Co-owner' and then below it said 'Kirsten'.

"Hey, welcome to The Dizzy Penguin." she greeted. She glanced back towards the bar, "Uh...Joe?"

"I'm fine." the man from before called,

"But the guy..."

"I said 'I'm fine'!"

An obviously drunk blonde man was sitting at the bar, hitting on the bartender whom Luke had given the flyers to earlier that day. The bartender seemed to be flirting back. The customer reached over the bar, and the bartender took his hand, smirking somewhat suggestively. However, when the customer actually climbed **over** the bar the bartender yelled,

"KIM!!!" as if on cue, and empty beer bottle flew across the bar, crashing into the back of the customers head and laying him flat on the bar, out cold. "Thank you." the person who threw the bottle, a dark skinned waitress with short black hair, beamed and gave the boy a thumbs up.

"Joe!!" the owner, Kirsten, called, "Did he sign the waver?!"

"Uh..." the bartender scratched the back of his head, "M-maybe...?" he asked innocently,

"It's Cid!" she said, "Didn't he sign one?! He comes here all the time!"

"I'm sure we've got one of his wavers _somewhere_..." he responded, pulling off the multiple empty beer-glasses on the counter two at a time and putting them in the sink. "He hasn't paid any of his bar tabs."

"He should be Joe's slave." a tall blonde girl agreed; she had chin length blonde hair, a key hanging from one of her earrings. She was holding a clipboard, the back of which said 'Dizzy-Talent-Night'. She was closer to the group, allowing them to read her nametag, 'Co-Owner' on one line, outlined in red; then beneath it in dark blue, was written 'Gina'. Next to her name was a penguin like the one on the sign outside. "That'd pay his tab off, right?"

"Really?" the blonde man asked hopefully, blushing slightly.

"Sure, why not?" however, their attention was quickly diverted.

"Wavers, here." Kirsten said suddenly shoving a paper in everyone's hands, "Sign them." she ordered, "Then you'll be seated."

"R-right." Luke agreed; Kirsten then turned to talk with Gina.

Erika quirked an eyebrow as they read the 'wavers' that the co-owner had handed to them, she read aloud,

"Hey, listen to this," she said, "'If you are hit in the head with a beer bottle (cigarette ash tray, plate, etc...) you will admit you had it coming and/or did something to deserve it. No responsibility will be placed on the staff for your bodily injuries if your run in with a beer bottle (cigarette ash tray, plate, etc...) was beneficial to the other patrons at the Dizzy Penguin.'"

"Beneficial?" Asch grunted,

"Shh! I'm not done!" Erika told him, and then continued reading, "'We will add an additional 15 on your bill if the ambulance is called, 25 if its the police, and 35 if you were seriously injured and put in the hospital.'"

"Wait," Luke asked, confused, "_We_ pay if something _they_ did hurts _us_?"

"Apparently." the girl responded.

"I suppose that man, 'Super Steve', who ran out of the bar earlier had to pay extra, didn't he?" Jade commented.

After a little light discussion, they decided that all of this was on Peony's tab anyway; they each signed their waver and turned them over to Kirsten.

"Good," she turned towards a waitress with slightly tanned skin wearing glasses. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail which sat high on the back of her head, "Kayla, they signed the wavers--show them to a table." Kayla quickly led them to a large circular table with four curving booth seats around the table. Two people sat in each booth seat; a fair sized orange candle in a glass cylinder was placed on the table near each seat to give them extra light. Jade sat next to Erika, Asch next to Natalia. With Gai's special 'condition' Luke volunteered to sit next to him; leaving Tear and Anise to sit next to one another.

"Okay, welcome to the Dizzy Penguin," Kayla greeted, passing out eight menus to all of them, "I'll be your waitress tonight, Joe is the bartender," she nodded back to the bartender who was now filling four different drinks practically simultaneously, "Kim will help you if I'm busy," she nodded to the dark skinned girl who was delivering a check to another table, "And Gina will make sure your meal's going well, and will introduce the uh... 'Talents' for tonight."

Luke jumped when he heard another glass shatter. A man to whom Kim had been delivering his check now had a plate broken over his head,

"Kim!" Kirsten called from the door. A brunette teen, clad in red with navy pants and brown suspenders, along with a ditzy-looking blonde girl dressed in white with blue trim, were standing there. Kirsten had apparently been hading them their 'Wavers'. The blonde girl took a step forward and tripped, seemingly over nothing, falling flat on her face; her red-clad friend quickly helped her up.

"What?" Kim asked,

"Every time we you deliver a check to a customer you break a plate! What the heck?!" the woman said, "We're going to run out of plates!!"

"They keep flirting with me!" she whined innocently, "It's not my fault!!"

"Drinks up." Joe called from the bar; having delt with a situation similar to this one so often he had come to just ignore it.

"Er..." Kayla smiled nervously, "Uh...I-I'll give you a minute to uh...make your drink selection--If you want something from the bar, just go up and ask." she then quickly left. The brunette and blonde from the doorway were soon seated, by Kirsten, near the large group.

At another table was a boy in a tight white shirt with a few odd dark green stones attached at the shoulder of the shirt, while navy jeans with the bottoms ripped off covered most of his legs; he had a head of silver-white hair, a horizontal cut across his forehead and then another slicing through it down over his left eye. With him sat a girl with blonde hair, a few flowers in her hairpiece; she was wearing a brown and pink outfit which sort of resembled a dress. A rather curious sparkling blue butterfly sat on the girls shoulder; ever now and then its wings would twitch slightly.

An orange mouse-like creature scampered by Natalia's legs, casing the girl to jump. The mouse ran to a man with greenish hair, the back in a long braid; he wore a teal breastplate over a black long sleeved shirt. A navy cloth wrapped around his waist, hanging to his knees, and jeans fell to his boots. As he scolded the small creature his partner, yet another blonde girl, this time dressed in a pretty maroon dress, sent Natalia an apologetic look. The trapeze-artist waved one hand carelessly, indicating that she didn't need to apologize.

The redhead looked over the menu, seeing many foods listed there as well as a fair variety of sodas and juices. Like Kayla had instructed, at the bottom it said 'For any Alcoholic drinks, please go to the Bar'.

"Ors!!"

"...And you're _really_ over 21?" Joe's voice asked. Luke noticed Tear staring at something in the way she usually did when she found something extremely cute and/or adorable. The redhead glanced back and then did a double take. At the bar sat an... oversized otter, dressed in green with a hat like Robin Hood on his head, and a small harp on his back,

"He's cute Joe!" Kirsten said, "It doesn't matter!!"

"Alright..." he sighed, "What'll you have uh..." he glanced down at one of the infamous Wavers, "...Pippo?"

"Ors!" the otter chirped happily in a cutely high pitched voice; the otter quickly placed his drink, and then skipped back over to a table across the Tavern where two other otters were sitting. One was dressed in red, maps sitting in a container on its back; the other dressed in yellow, on it's back was a large wrench.

"Are those otters?" Luke asked to nobody in particular, staring at the three creatures who were talking happily.

"They're so cute..." Tear sighed, smiling at the three small creatures. After brief examination, Jade and Gai agreed at once,

"They're otters." /_Otters in a bar...?_\

"Well, now that that odd mystery is settled," Jade said somewhat abruptly, standing, "I think I'll go to the bar. Excuse me." he then walked to the bar.

"Hmm..." Gai considered the thought for a moment, "I guess I will too."

"Wh-what?" Luke stuttered--he didn't picture Gai the type to drink...

"Don't worry," the blonde assured, giving Luke a brief smile, "I don't drink anything strong." he then proceeded to the bar as well.

Kayla soon returned to the table, a small pad of paper and pen in hand. She ducked, almost at the last instant, avoiding three plates; then effortlessly caught a glass which almost hit Anise.

"Heh, sorry about that." she apologized. She tossed the glass over her shoulder at a customer that was complaining loudly; it crashed into him and he fell silent.

"Woah..." Luke mumbled.

"Alright, have you all decided on drinks?" while Tear and Natalia each ordered sweet tea and water, everyone else ordered some form of soda.

Asch ordered Coke.

Erika ordered Root Beer.

Anise ordered Mountain Dew.

Luke, not accustomed to such a large selection of drinks, just picked one. Cherry Pepsi. He liked cherries, so cherries in soda should taste good.

"Anything for those two?" Kayla asked, motioning to Gai and Jade's empty seats. She probably wasn't aware they went to the bar,

"Water." Erika answered simply; the waitress scribbled down the word 'water' and then left to fulfill the orders.

Anise was quickly absorbed in watching an odd creature flap around above them. It was a tiny tan creature with dark tan stripes, a surprisingly large head and big blue eyes. Wings, seeming almost too small to support it, were attached to its tail, flapping furiously and keeping it airborne; it was actually rather funny to watch it fly around. Especially considering it's circles were oddly shaped, and he seemed to slowly dip lower and lower. Its odd flight eventually carried it towards the wall near the table where the red-clad teen and blonde ditz were sitting. The creature seemed to pass out mid flight, sailing with a soft 'splat' into the wall; it fell through the air, landing right on the blondes head. She smiled in an oblivious manner up at the creature,

"Awww...Look, Lloyd--he's sleeping!" she said cheerfully. A sweat drop slid down the red-clad teens head. Luke noticed that Erika perked up ever so slightly at the mention of 'Lloyd'; she glanced at the boy, and then looked back to the table. The redhead couldn't identify the next expression on her face; however it seemed a mix of confusion and slight disappointment. He decided to ask her about it later.

"Hello!" Gina greeted, speaking into the microphone on stage, "Welcome to the Dizzy Penguin," there was a brief 'boo', however she then hurled a plate like a frizz-bee at the patron and they fell silent. "Okay! First up for our talents tonight is...Pippo, Poppo, and Quppo with the..." she squinted slightly at her clipboard, "Oresoren Victory Dance."

"Ors!!" the three otters from before chirped at once, jumping down from their chairs and marching up on stage. There was a choking noise from near them as the silver haired boy choked on his drink,

"S-Senel?" his blonde friend asked worriedly, "Senel, are you alright?"

"W-what are _they_ doing here!?" the boy coughed out.

It was somewhat entertaining to watch; the three otters skipped around on the stage chirping 'Ors' in an almost catchy rhythm as they danced.

"That's so cute!" Tear sighed; she, Natalia, and Anise seemed to think that the three dancing otters were the coolest thing ever, while Erika said,

"Eh... Yeah, it's cute I guess."

"Ors, ors-ors!!" they finished, sticking their arms up into the air. They recieved a fair amount of applause from the crowd, especially from the women whom loved watching the three cute creatures jumping around on stage and trying to sing.

"My, my, what an interesting act." Jade said, taking his seat next to Erika; he had a medium sized glass filled with brownish-amber liquid.

"What is that?" Natalia asked,

"Scotch." he responded. Gai had a twice-normal-size shot glass filled with orange liquid.

"What did you get?" Luke asked as the blonde as he sat down.

"Orange Liquor." he responded.

"We'll have our next Dizzy-Talent member up in a few," Gina said as the three otters filed offstage, "Enjoy your food, folks!"

"Why didn't the Ringmaster come with us?" Tear asked as everyone began looking over their menus,

"He enjoys having time to himself." Jade responded, squeezing juice from the lime wedge into his drink, "Also, it's time for him to think of new routines that he knows we wouldn't approve if we were there."

"Great..." Asch sighed.

"Here are your drinks." Kayla had returned, this time holding a large black tray with the drinks sitting on top. She passed each drink out to its corresponding person, "Alright, are you guys ready to order?"

"Give us a few more minutes, please." Natalia asked,

"Alright, I'll come back and take your orders in a few minutes." She assured, then left. Luke looked behind her just in time to see a strange looking person enter. It was a tall man with long black hair which was pushed away from his face by a red headband; his crimson red eyes stood out against the pale complexion of his face. A crimson cape with a collar high enough to hide the lower half of his face was buckled around his shoulders; a bronze claw covered his left hand, and pointed bronze boots covered his feet.

"...I'm here to pick up Cid." he told Kirsten,

"Right there, Vincent." the woman said, pointing to the bar. Vincent sighed softly, shaking his head slowly as he approached Cid,

"...Right..." As the black haired man asked Joe for Cid's bar-tab, Luke heard Anise squeal,

"Eeeew! You're getting _tofu_?!" she was giving Tear a disgusted look.

"I've tried tofu before, it wasn't bad." Tear responded, "I'd like to have it again." Luke remembered he still didn't know what he was going to order and looked back to his menu.

He was used to classy five-star menus, so this selection of food rather...confused him. He looked to Gai,

"Uh--wh-what are you getting?" he asked,

"Dunno." Gai responded, studying his menu. "Hmm...probably a pizza or something." Luke decided to look for things that he recognized...hmm... well what _did_ he recognize? Aside from pizza he recognized 'chicken sandwich w/ Cole slaw and fries'. He wasn't entirely sure what 'Cole slaw' and 'fries' were, but hey; they couldn't be bad, right/_Guess I'll go with that._\ he decided.

"How are we paying for this?" Tear asked,

"We're not," Jade explained simply,

"What...?" she asked. He pulled out a small bright green plastic rectangle,

"The Ringmaster lent me his credit card," he said with a somewhat evil smirk, "Everyone enjoy this; it's on Peony's tab."

"He _lent_ it to you, eh?" Asch asked over his menu, raising an eyebrow.

---------------

Back at the Circus:

Peony patted down his pockets in a frenzy, running around his trailer,

"Darnit!! Where's my Credit Card?!" he exclaimed,

"Mieu...?" Mieu watched the Ringmaster with confusion

---------------

"Of course he did," Jade said, his smile becoming a smirk, "Otherwise that would be stealing." Everyone sent one another a skeptic look.

"Why is Peony friends with him, again?" Luke whispered to Gai behind his menu,

"Beats me," he whispered back, "I'm still trying to figure out why Erika likes him."

"Next Dizzy Talent," Gina announced, back on the stage. "Magic, by uh..." she squinted at the clipboard, "...I can't read the name. Oh well." No one even had time to look at the act, for Kayla had returned.

"Ready to order, yet?" Kayla asked, another pad of paper and pen in hand. Everyone's orders seemed pretty normal; burgers, tofu, chicken...then they got to Luke,

"Uh--the chicken sandwich." he said as calmly as he could. He'd never really had to decide what he wanted before.

"Alright--" she finished scribbling down on her pad of paper, "You're orders will be out in a little while."

"Tada--" the person on stage announced, "A do--ve!! Hey!" the white dove flew from his hand, and it successfully took a dump on the table where the green-haired man was sitting,

"Ew!" the woman exclaimed when it almost hit her,

"**Claire!!**" the man screamed, overly-loudly,

"This place is a madhouse...!" Luke mumbled, taking a sip of his Cherry Pepsi. The carbonation danced on his tongue as he swallowed; a sudden burp came from his lips, "Oh--uh--heh, sorry." he laughed.

They continued watching the magician onstage fail at doing magic, getting distracted by the occasional plate/glass that went flying through the air. Soon the magician got booed off stage.

Kayla, with Kim in toe, returned to the table after about twenty minutes, passing out everyone's food. The chicken sandwich was surprisingly large, surrounded by odd white _stuff_ and thin golden-brown rectangles. He remembered the 'frenched' potatoes in the mansion, and figured the golden-brown rectangles were the 'French fries'. Everyone began eating as Gina once again appeared onstage. After glancing at the bar Luke saw that Cid was still there; Vincent walking out of the door. Vincent didn't want to bother paying such a large tab, and left Cid there. Joe then proceeded to haul Cid over the bar, the man falling on the floor with a dull thud.

"Joe, where's Cid?" Gina asked,

"...Can I keep him?" Joe asked,

"..." Gina thought for a minute, "...Eh, sure. Just don't let him drink all the beer."

"Yayz!"

"Hey--you can't just abduct someone--" a patron at the bar started. They were then shot with seltzer from a dispenser,

"Wanna say that again?" Joe demanded, pulling another seltzer dispenser out and aiming them like guns at the patron. He began shooting seltzer at the patron when they tried to make an argument, all the while saying that he was adding 'glasses of seltzer' onto his tab.

"My, my. This place is so charming." Jade commented, sipping his scotch.

"Look, the foods coming out of that window." Anise said through a bite of 'Chicken-Finger'. There was a small square cut out of the wall at the end of the bar; swinging shutters blocking the view in. A tray was suddenly thrust out and seemed to be about to fall; however Kayla seemed to suddenly appear there, and catch the tray. She then walked off to deliver it.

"Look at the sign above the door..." Natalia said, "'Do Not Look Inside. Or Else'."

"That only makes me more curious about what's in there..." Erika said.

"Look below it," Tear said, "'Curiosity is Blasphemy'."

* * *

Kirsten, Kayla, Kim, Joe, Gina, and Stephen (Super Steve) 

are all my friends in Real Life --High-5's-- Thanks guys!!

and I thank them for helping me come up w/ random things for this story:)


	8. 8: The Dizzy Penguin PT2

Tis the second part of everyones favorite chapter: THE DIZZY PENGUIN!!!

* * *

"I said NO!" Gai insisted, 

"What's wrong, Gai? Afraid you'll loose?" Jade asked. Everyone was almost done eating, and Jade had decided to challenge Gai to a drinking contest. The tavern was almost full now; and various--horrible--talents continued to go up and try their luck.

"Drinking contest?" Joe asked. He had just finished knocking Cid unconscious again with a blast of seltzer, "Hold on, lemme get the Wavers..."

"**More**?" Luke asked, running a french fry through some ketchup. The Chicken Sandwich was greasy, but really good; and the fries weren't too bad. However he absolutely hated the Cole Slaw; it was disgusting.

Now, an odd Jamaican man with a red bandanna tied around his forehead and many things braided into his dreadlocks was dancing around on stage. He was dressed somewhat like a pirate, and was holding a large glass jar full of dirt in one hand, a bottle of rum in the other.

"I've got a jar of di-irt, I've got a jar of di-irt, I've got a jar of di-irt--And guess what's inside it!" basically his entire song was those four phrases. And in the end... "I've got a jar of--w-woah--!" he fell off of the stage, landing on his back, and his dear 'jar of dirt' landing on him. At which point everyone proceeded to laugh at him. The bottle of rum crashed on the floor and broke; after which he promptly sat up, saying, "Why Is the Rum Gone!?" Gina then walked onstage,

"Yes, thank you uh...Jack Sparrow."

"Captain." he corrected from the floor,

"Yeah, yeah..."

"FINE!" Gai's voice yelled. Apparently Jade had bothered him to the point where he would actually have a drinking contest with the man. Joe reappeared with the wavers, Jade and Gai signed them without even reading them.

"So, what'll you drink?" the bartender asked, slipping the wavers under the bar, "Scotch, Tequila, Vodka, Beer?"

"Glasses of Beer." Jade said, sitting on one of the barstools. Gai sat next to him pressing his face into his palm

"I can't believe I'm doing this..." he sighed,

"You've agreed to it already." the older man said, leaning an elbow on the bar.

Luke watched with mild interest as the two began drinking beer, and Aldrick put cups on the table to replace the ones that were drunk.

"Wow..." he mumbled,

"Let's go Gai!" Anise called, "You can do it!"

"Jade's gonna win," Erika responded, "After all; he never gets drunk..._Ever_."

"She has a point..." Natalia mumbled,

"Gai's gonna get wasted and Jade's gonna be fine." Asch simply, finishing his second glass of soda.

"He's gonna be fine?" Luke asked,

"Jade has a...remarkably high alcohol tolerance." Tear explained, "It's so high that we've never seen him drunk before."

"Wow..."

"Alright!" Gina's voice exclaimed. Luke jumped,

"Our next talent will be... A rapper who whishes to be known as...uh..." she squinted at her clipboard, "Funk Master...Pietown. And he'll be out in about ten minutes." laughs erupted from around the bar.

"That's five." Erika commented. Luke glanced back to see that both Jade and Gai had each downed five glasses of beer.

"...I'm never gonna drink." he commented,

"Good." Erika agreed, "I'd hate to see _you_ drunk, New Guy."

------------

Ten minutes later...

THUD

"Ow..." Gai had toppled from his barstool. He laughed, then hiccupped, from the floor, "Hahaha..." it was clear to tell how much he had been drinking by how red his face was.

"It appears I win." Jade said, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, guess so." Joe confirmed, "Here's your prize." he handed the man a black shirt that said 'If you can read this, put me back on my barstool.' upside down.

"Considering I can't get drunk, I'll give this to Gai." he decided.

"Ta...tank joo..." the blonde hiccupped as Jade dropped the shirt over him. When they returned to the table Gai suddenly had a great infatuation with Luke, and tired to hug the New Guy,

"K-keep him off me!" Luke exclaimed, pushing the blonde away.

"Now, time for the rap-stylings of Funk Master Pietown!" Gina exclaimed, a few people snickered. A boy stumbled onstage, dressed in white robes. A golden tuning fork-shaped charm hung from a thin wire around his neck. The boy had short green hair, two longer sections framed his face; his hair matched his eyes in color.

"O-okay...!" he stuttered with a weak voice, "A-are you all ready...!?"

"...I've got a baaad feeling..." Erika voiced, Jade took his seat next to her and watched avidly. A low bass beat started to play, and the boy began to try and rap.

"There were six kinds of fonons,

Until they found a seventh!

They're used in Fonic Artes,

And they look really pretty."

"What the hell?" Asch asked, "He's rapping about fonons!"

"The poor boy." Natalia said sympathetically, "He must be so embarrassed up there..." indeed, his face was a glowing shade of read

"His words don't even rhyme." Luke agreed, putting a hand on Gai's cheek and pushing to keep the blonde away,

"C'mon, New Guy," he slurred, "Gimme a hug!"

"Wow he's smashed." Anise commented, looking at the blonde, "Wonder how much he drank."

"Too much." Erika answered. One of Jade's arms draped over her shoulders, and he leaned slightly against her,

"He drank quite a lot." he assured, "I'm surprised he can still speak."

"You're a horrible person." the girl informed him,

"I know." he responded in a chuckle.

"Hey--personal space, Jade."

"I'm drunk. I don't know the meaning of the words." he informed her. While Erika tried to tell Jade that he couldn't _get_ drunk, Luke suddenly heard a lot of 'Boo'-ing,

"Hey...they're booing the kid off stage!" Anise exclaimed, pointing. 'Funk Master Pietown' ducked, avoiding a tomato,

"Hey!" Gina yelled, "No Food Throwing!"

"Boo!" even more patrons began throwing food,

"That's it! Kayla! Kim! Assault Fire!" the other two waitresses jumped onstage and began hurling plates like frisbees at the people who were throwing vegetables. "Joe! Backup Fire!" Joe pulled up his two seltzer shooters obediently and shot at a few of the patrons who were in range. 'Pietown' ducked offstage, seeming miserably depressed.

"Hey! Pietown!" Anise called, waving at him, "Over here!"

"Anise?" Tear asked,

"C'mon," she whined when the green-haired boy looked over at her, "Peony wouldn't mind...He can come with us just for tonight, right?"

"I doubt the ringmaster would care. Long as the kid didn't get in the way." Asch agreed, finishing his third glass of soda.

"Pietown! Come over here!" the boy walked over to them cautiously.

"Hey," Luke greeted, "You okay?" Gai lost his balance and fell on the floor suddenly, causing Luke to jump,

"I'm gonna..." he hiccupped, "Stay down here for a little while...okay?"

"...uh..." Luke stared under the table,

"What's up with you?" Erika asked, somewhat loosing in her fight to keep the 'claiming to be drunk' man from getting any closer to her,

"...He's using my feet for pillows." he responded. Tear stood,

"Sit there," she told the rapper, "I'll sit next to Luke." Pietown seemed startled by this for a moment,

"A-ah...uh... Th-thank...Thank you." the boy stuttered, sitting down next to Anise. Tear took the now empty space next to Luke,

"Why's he using my feet as a pillow...?" the New Guy asked as the unconscious Gai hiccupped again.

"Like my brother said:" Erika announced, "You're not drunk until you've got to hold on to the grass to keep from falling off of the earth."

"Nice." Anise snickered.

"Well I'd say we've enjoyed our share, yes?" Jade asked, once again whipping out Peony's credit card.

"How're you gonna sign for that?" Luke asked, "It's not _yours_."

"Hehehe..." Jade's eyes twinkled mischievously, "Let me tell you, my talents are endless."

"That's what I was afraid of..." he mumbled. After signaling that they wanted their check, Kayla delivered the little slip of paper and the man handed over the credit card which was not his. When she returned the slip and asked for a signature the man did an outstanding job of forging Peony's signature.

"Alright, have a nice night." Kirsten said with a smile, "Come back any time! And tell your friends!

--------

Luke woke up lying in his bed, and feeling warm. The boy remembered, last night, bringing Gai back to the circus when they left the Dizzy Penguin. Gai seemed to be hovering between sleep and awake as he continued to stumble awkwardly around as Luke pulled him towards their destination.

With a start Luke noticed soft breathing next to him, and an arm dropped over him. He stiffened when he opened his eyes and recognized whose arm it was.

"G-Gai...!?" he squeaked softly. He looked next to him to find the blonde sleeping facedown on the bed, his face mostly buried in the other half of the pillow. One of his arms was flung out across the noble's chest. He was snoring softly, and appeared to be in a deep sleep that wouldn't be disturbed by anything.

The boys face was as red as his hair while he quickly wiggled from under the blonde's arm and fell on the floor with a dull thud,

"Ow-! Huh?" he noticed the green-haired boy from the night before lying on the floor near Gai's bed, fast asleep. He was covered by blankets and his head was resting on a pillow--because Gai's bed still had these things, Luke guessed that Jade or Asch got them from the closet. It took him a moment of thinking to remember that they had volunteered to let the boy stay at the circus for the night. He put a hand over his stomach when it grumbled uncomfortably; the food they ate last night was good, yes, but it didn't really agree with him.  
"Funk Master Pietown..." the redhead mumbled, "A rapper named Pietown? What kinda rap-name is Pietown?" Gai snorted rather loudly in his sleep, causing Luke to jump slightly. Deciding to let Asch, Gai, Jade and 'Pietown' sleep, Luke changed quietly into his circus uniform and crept from the trailer.

After getting outside and going into the 'mess hall' he found Tear drinking a cup of coffee.

"H-hey, Tear." he greeted, walking in and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning Luke." she greeted, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine," his stomach churned uncomfortably, gurgling softly, as he pulled down a mug and began pouring coffee, "That food just... didn't really agree with me."

"I know how you feel..." the brunette sighed, "Get a glass of water," she instructed, standing from her chair and walking towards the door, "I'll get an Antacid for you. Trust me, you'll feel better."

"Thanks." he said gratefully, pulling a glass from the cupboard and filling it with cool water from the sink. He sat down with his coffee and water, sipping slowly at the hot liquid.

The door opened rather soon, and in stumbled Gai with surprisingly dark bags hanging under his eyes and a hand on his head.

"M-morning Gai." Luke greeted, fighting to keep his cheeks from turning red and struggling not to think about the night before, "H-how...do you feel?"

"Sick..." the blonde groaned, plopping down into the seat near him; he leaned forward, putting his cheek on the table, and held his head, "And my head's killing me."

"You've got a hangover..." the redhead said meekly,

"No kidding." the blonde rolled his head so that his chin was on the table instead of his cheek, "Why the hell did I agree to have that drinking contest anyway...?"

"I don't remember." Luke admitted, "Uh...H-here, let me get you an icepack."

"Thanks, New Guy..." he said as his friend stood,

Luke opened the freezer and pulled out an icepack, he then shuffled through a couple of drawers to find a dishtowel to wrap it in.

"Hey, what'd I do last night anyway...?" Gai asked curiously, "And where'd I get this shirt...?" The shirt his 'if you can read this, put me back on my barstool' shirt.

"..." Luke stiffened, his face turning as red as his hair as he suddenly halted his actions, "U-uh... Well--that shirt is from the bartender."

"Man...I don't remember a damned thing," he went on, rubbing his temples. "Just that drinking contest...I guess you brought me back here." Gai gave him a weak smile, "Sorry for stealing your bed..."

"..." Luke took the dish-towel-wrapped icepack to his friend, thinking/_'Steal'? More like 'shared'..._\

"Thanks..." the blonde sat up, took the icepack, and set it on his head, "Who's the kid sleeping on the floor?"

"He's that rapper from the tavern last night," Luke explained, grateful to get off the subject of what Gai did while he was drunk.

"Rapper?" he thought for a second, "Oh...the one that got 'boo'd...off...stage..." he trailed off,

"Yeah...We felt kinda bad for him, so we brought him back with us."

"What's his name again?"

"Uh...Y'know, we never asked his real name..." Luke informed him, remembering how they still lacked that piece of information,

"Hmm..." Gai mumbled, seeming to get in a slightly better mood as the icepack numbed his head and got rid of the pain. "He's...Funk Master...what-town?"

"Pietown." Luke said with a grin, "Funk Master Pietown." Gai chuckled softly,

"Oh yeah...I remember that now. He was rapping about Fonic Artes...or at least he was trying to..."

The door opened, and this time Tear walked in. She handed Luke a small silver-colored packet with 'Antacid' written on the front in navy blue,

"Put that tablet in your water," she instructed, "Then drink it while it's dissolving. You'll feel better."

"Thanks." the boy ripped open the small packet, dropping in the large, powdery white tablet. The brunette filled another glass of water, setting it down in front of Gai along with an oval-shaped yellow pill along with a circular white one.

"Heh..." he laughed weakly, removing the icepack so he could take his pills, "Guess I deserve this...don't I?"

"Yes you do," Tear said, she then sighed as she took her seat again, "I just wish Jade would suffer from a hangover at least once..."

Almost an hour later everyone was in the mess hall. All except for Pietown and Anise,

"Where's Anise...?" Luke asked,

"She won't wake up." Erika said simply, sipping her coffee, "She says that she feels really sick."

"Perhaps food poisoning." Jade suggested pleasantly;

"H-how can you say that with such a calm face!?" Luke demanded, "Your friend is sick!"

"Luke, calm down." Tear ordered,

"Yeah, that's just Jade being Jade," Gai agreed, "Don't take him seriously."

"I'm offended Gai, how could you say such hurtful things?" the man asked, hardly trying to sound hurt. Tear shook her head and stood,

"I'll go check on Anise." the girl volunteered, before finishing her coffee. She stood, "Hey, someone should go check on that green-haired kid." she reminded them, before briskly walking from the kitchen and headed towards the girls trailer.

* * *

I thank my friend Addy for helping me with Ion's rap. I had fun writing his chapter 

Dizzy Penguin Chapters EPIC WIN

review plz! kthnx


	9. 9: Close Call

"Talking"

/_Thinking_\ Just in case anyone forgot

* * *

"Waaaaahhhh!!"

"Ah--hey, no-wait!" Luke begged, "Calm down, kid!"

"I-I didn't break anything, I swear!" the green haired boy showed surprising dexterity as he lodged himself under the redheads bed.

"I-I didn't say you broke--come out from there!" Luke ordered. He'd returned to the boy's trailer to find 'Funk Master Pietown' wide awake and returning the borrowed blankets and pillow to their place in the closet. Upon seeing the circus performer, 'Pietown' seemed to jump out of his skin, and quickly took refuge under the nearest bed which happened to be Luke's.

"You're mad at me!"

"Blasphemy! I'm not mad at you! Why would I be mad?"

"...." but he wouldn't budge, peering at Luke nervously from his cramped hiding place. He sat down next to the bed, trying to be patient with the boy,

"Look--I'm not mad at you. I swear. Come out, will ya? You're gonna get stuck under there!"

"But you were throwing vegetables at me last night...at the tavern...!"

"N-no I wasn't-!" Luke argued, "We _saved_ you from the plate throwing!"

"O-oh..." the boy still seemed a little nervous to crawl from under the bed, as though he thought that place was something of a haven,

"Uh...I-I'm Luke." he said, trying to make the curve of his smile into a friendly gesture, "What's your name?"

"I-Ion." he said, "My names Ion."

"Okay, Ion." Luke stuck his hand under the bed, trying to be friendly, "Let's get you out from under there, huh? I'm sure if you ask Tear she'll make you something for breakfast."

"...R...really?" Ion asked, somewhat hopeful at the mention of food. The redhead laughed lightly at this fact. He couldn't blame the green-haired boy though; the last time he ate was before he 'preformed' last night and it was currently late into morning. He was probably starving by now.

"Yeah. Tear's really nice like that, but first," he moved his outstretched hand a little more towards the boy, "You gotta come out from under here, okay?"

"T-tell me more about you first." he asked, "All I know is your name."

"M-more about....?" Luke withdrew his hand and scratched the side of his head as he shifted on the floor to sitting with his legs crossed. /_What's with this kid...?_\ he thought, "Well uh...Okay, um... M-my favorite color is uh...blue....and, uh..."

By the end of ten minutes, Luke learned that Ion: liked Kiwi's, his favorite color was green, he liked helping people, his favorite food was Risotto, and that he liked to read.

"C'mon, I thought you were hungry." Luke reminded him, "Let's go."

"Right." Ion smiled. He began to get out from his hiding place, "Ah-!"

"What's up?" the redhead paused from brushing off his pants, "Ion?"

"H-help!" he asked, his hands extending from under the edge of the bed and clinging to Luke's pant leg, "Help me, Luke! I'm stuck!!"

"Wha?!" Luke quickly put his hands under the edge of the bed-frame, and pulled up. The bed rose a good five inches off the floor, and Ion quickly scrambled out. He dropped the bed, and turned to the boy, "Y-you okay?"

THUD CLANK CLANG!!!

The metal frame of the bed bounced and clanged against the floor, making Luke flinch. It took only about a minute before Luke heard Tear call,

"Luke! Luke, what was that?!"

"I-I dropped the bed?" Luke asked,

"Why did you-?" the door opened and Tear paused when she saw Ion pushing himself up, "Oh?"

"Ah-!" Ion almost dove under the bed again, only for Luke to grab the back of his outfit,

"You'll get stuck again!" he exclaimed.

"I see..." Tear sighed with a tiny smile after listening to Ion's story. "Yes alright. Let's go to the mess hall, I'll make you something."

"Th-thank you."

-------------------------

"So, why were you trying to rap last night?" Erika asked. Luke and Tear introduced everyone, who had yet to leave the mess hall, to the green haired boy, and then Tear had made him scrambled eggs and a few slices of toast for a breakfast. He seemed more comfortable sitting near Anise; perhaps because she was the one who had called to him to come over where he could escape the angry crowd.

"I-I just wanted to try...." the boy blushed.

"What do you think, Ringmaster?" Jade asked,

"......" Peony looked at Ion thoughtfully, "...Sure!"

"S-sure...?" Ion questioned.

"Ooooooh boy..." Asch sighed,

"What do you say to joining our circus, Ion?"

"M-me--!?" he asked excitedly, "I-I could actually be useful? Really?"

"Sure!" he said, "You'll be..."

"The New Guy?" Luke asked hopefully,

"No! Prop Boy!"

"P-Prop...?"

"What's a Prop Boy?" Ion asked,

"You'll help the Dark Wings by carrying props or helping set up for acts and such."

"Really?" the boy's green eyes were bright and hopefully,

"Sure!" Peony laughed, "The Dark Wings could always use another hand! Haha!"

Luke folded his arms, mumbling to himself about how Ion should be the New Guy, as Peony proceeded to give Ion a set of instructions which made the poor boys head spin.

"Okay!" He laughed as Ion tried to count on his fingers the number of chores he'd just been given, "Now we've gotta practice for our street show!"

"S-street show?" the redhead asked, "Why? What about the fl--"

"Do you realize how many people just throw fliers away?" Asch interrupted. "We go and do a street show in town. It gets a lot more attention for our circus that way."

"O-oh."

"The show is in two days; let's get practicing guys!" the Ringmaster beamed.

"W-wait--Ringmaster!" Ion asked as everyone filed out, "How'm I going to learn all of this--"

"The Dark Wings 'll teach you. Don't you worry." Peony patted the boy's back so hard that he nearly toppled forward.

---------

"Wait--wait--" Luke stopped a foe sword-fight with Gai for a moment,

"What's up?" the blonde asked,

"The order--is it: Attack you, attack you, parry, jump back, you attack?" the boy counted on his fingers as he said each action.

"No, no," Gai shook his head, "It's: Attack me, parry, attack you, we both jump back, then I attack you." he looked to the other redhead who was standing not far away, examining a piece of paper, "Right?"

"No...After you both jump back I come in and go after," he pointed his wooden sword towards Gai, "You. And then there's....a three-way fight between all of us."

"So what are the instructions for that?" Gai asked,

"...Ad lib."

"Of course..." Gai sighed, "Ready to go, New Guy?"

"Attack....then..." Luke thought over the order again, "Jump away... Right, okay."

"If you're ready, let's start again."

"Alright that's it for the stone part, now it's the ice needles right?" Erika questioned, getting in a position which would allow jumping.

"Let's see," Jade checked his own slip of paper, "Hm... The attack will be six ice needles in a row. You dodge: right, right, up, left, up, down."

"And then what?"

"A...water attack; and then you attack me. After that it just says 'Ad lib', I do love how very descriptive Peony is in his instructions." he adjusted his glasses and put the paper back in his pocket, "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Anise--! Anise, are you alright?" Natalia asked, lowering her bow, "That arrow came awfully close to--"

"--Nope, I'm okay." Anise assured, sitting down on the head of her Tokunaga, "But poor Tokunaga 1 got that arrow shot right through his ear."

"I'm sorry--I forgot the order that we were supposed to follow." she explained as the girl tugged the arrow out of her doll, "Sometimes the moves that the Ringmaster wants us to do are a bit complicated."

"You're telling me..." the girl sighed, "Hey, Tear! Why don't we just practice where you come in now? Natalia and I can get our part sorted out later."

"You're sure?" Tear asked, slowly twirling a wand in her hands, "You're act is more difficult before I come in; you need to practice that more."

"I'd like a break from our part too," Natalia agreed, "Would you mind?"

"Well if you're sure." the brunette sighed, "Alright; Anise is in a battle position, and Natalia is going to fire an arrow, then I..."

There was a pause midday, to both take a break from training and eat lunch. Luke laid back on the bleachers gratefully,

"Phew! Man, I'm beat!"

"Don't say that, Luke." Tear advised, "We're not even done training yet."

"What?!"

"After this break, and lunch, we train right on until dinner. Then we're free to relax." Natalia explained,

"Aw man..."

The day was long, and Luke was beat by the end of it. The most he'd done in one day back in Barluu was about two hours of sword training; while this was well over six hours of constant moving. However, he commended himself, he had the routine almost entirely down now; all he needed was a few more run throughs and then he'd be ready.

As the new guy flopped down on his bed, listening to Gai and Jade talk behind him, he looked forward to the next day; he'd be sore, maybe in a little pain, but he still looked forward to it.

---------

Two days later...

"Okay--does everybody know their stuff?" Peony beamed,

"Yeah." was the general response.

"Alright! Let's go-- Into Sharlen and to our performance sight, everyone!"

"Where _is_ the performance sight, anyway?" Anise asked,

"Maine Square; in the middle of town." the Ringmaster responded, "It'll be a bit of a walk, so let's get going eh?"

"We're not just gonna take a coach?" Luke asked,

"Nah! C'mon, walking is good for you!" the redhead sighed quietly, "Everyone got their props?" Natalia held up her bow, Anise held up a small Tokunaga doll, Tear held out her wand, then Asch, Luke and Gai nudged the wooden swords resting at their waists. "Alrighty then, let's get walking!"

Ten minutes later:

"Okay," Peony announced, turning a corner abruptly and strolling down a new street, "The performance site is this way! Keep up, everyone!"

"Why not just use a coach..." Anise sighed.

"I know right?" Luke agreed, glancing over at the wall next to them when white suddenly replaced the red brick, "-!" he froze, jerking his head back to look at the wall once again.

"C'mon you guys!" Peony laughed, "Walking is good for you!" however, the noble hardly noticed when they continued walking and left him behind,

"N...no way..." he murmured to himself, "No way...!"

Posted on the wall was a poster with his face painted on it, below the picture it read 'Luke fon Fabre' in big letters; he did look remarkably different from the picture due to cutting his hair, yes, however there was enough similarity for someone to guess that he was indeed the same as the person on the poster. Underneath his name it said 'Missing from Barluu' followed by, 'If you have seen him or heard of his whereabouts, please inform a royal guard or the police within your city.'

"No way, no way! No!" Luke grabbed the top of the poster in a panic and ripped it from the wall. He tore up the painting of his face and crammed the scraps into as small a ball as he could make them go.

"You there!"  
"!" Luke froze and looked back to see two royal guard surround him,

"What do you think you're doing!?"

"I-I was uh--" he stuttered, worrying too much about whether or not they recognized him to realize that his appearance wasn't what had drawn their attention, "I was just--"  
"That poster was commissioned by the noble Fabre family to find their son!" the second exclaimed, "You're in deep trouble for tearing it down--come with us!"

"N-no--I can't!" the boy argued, "The circus is waiting for me-- I've g-gotta go!" he took off down the street as a sprint, dropping the wadded up poster as he started to run.

"Come back here you!" the two knights were quick to give chase after him, and Luke looked around frantically for where the fellow members of his circus had gone to.

---------

"...well, well..."

"Hey, Jade-" Erika started, then paused when she noticed his serious expression, "What's up? Something wrong?"

"...No." he responded simply. He reached up a hand, peeling a white poster from the wall; he'd paused his walking and had begun staring at the poster intently. Out of the whole troupe, he was the only one to notice it, "Nothing at all."

"What's...that?" she stretched the end of her question when he folded up the paper and deposited it in his pocket,

"That?" the magician asked, "Oh nothing. Just an advertisement for a very interesting dissection class--"

"You know what, never mind." Erika interrupted, holding up a hand,

"Oh, but aren't you curious at all?" he teased a small smile crossing his lips, "You _are_ the one who asked, after all."

"Stop--just stop. I'm not curious anymore."

"If you say so. It's your loss."

"Right--sure..." she turned back with a small shake of her head and began walking to catch up with the rest of the troupe, "C'mon slowpoke."

"Right..." Jade's expression returned to serious once again as he sent a glance down to the pocket which now held the poster, "Luke... 'fon Fabre'. Hmmm..."

---------

Luke rounded a sharp corner into an alley and attempted to keep running.

"Kreeooowww!!" A cat screeched in pain when the circus performer stamped on its tail.

"Wha-? Owwww!!" the cat flailed its claws at Luke's ankle angrily, ripping past his pants, biting deeply into his skin, and drawing blood. He fell on his side, and the cat dashed out of the alleyway, a section of its tail slightly flatter than the rest. "Stupid... cat..." Luke cursed under his breath, clutching his ankle,

"There you are." the two knights were panting from having to chase the teen while wearing their heavy armor, however they'd caught up with him none the less.

"A-ah--!" he tried to wiggle back, "N-no--no, wait!"

"You're under a--"

"What the--who're you three?"

"Hold it right there. That kid is with us." a woman's voice said, "That's our New Guy; and no, you can't borrow him."

---------

"What? You're kidding! Jade--Jade!"

"Hm?" he raised his head to look at the blonde who addressed him, pushing aside his serious thoughts of Luke's identity.

"Where's New Guy?" Gai asked, "You see him anywhere?"

"My, my...getting lost, is he?" he asked with a laugh, "However are we going to keep him in our circus this way?"

"This isn't good..." Erika mumbled, rubbing her temples.

"Oh dear..." Natalia muttered, "How're we gonna find him?"

"Stupid dreck..." Asch mumbled under his breath, glancing to where they were supposed to be headed,

"Nooooo need to worry!" Peony exclaimed suddenly, causing everyone to jump slightly,

"R-Ringmaster--what do you mean 'no need to worry'?" Tear asked, "Luke is--"

"The Dark Wings are already on it." Peony assured, "They'll find him in no time and bring him to the demonstration site, don't you worry."

"Did you give them bribe money?" Anise asked, "We don't want another _incident_."

"I'm tell you--those guys **did not** look like police." Asch argued, "They didn't even show me their badges when they tried to arrest me!"

"Yes, yes, they most certainly had it coming." Jade laughed.

"Of course I gave them bribe money." Peony responded, "What else are they supposed to do? _Beat up_ the _police_?" he sent a look to the trapeze artist.

"Oh shut up..." the redhead ordered, crossing his arms and looking away as pink color stained his cheeks.

---------

"N-new--?" Luke raised his head hopefully, "Ye-Yeah! Yeah, that's me, New Guy! Y-you guys are from Cirque de Auldrant?"

"That we are, kid." the shortest and roundest of the three said, turning back to him. He was balding under his tiny bowler hat, but had a beard and mustache to replace the lost hair on his head; he was holding a tan cane, tapping the base in his free hand. The man in a pirate's hat turned back as well,

"We three are the leaders of the Dark Wings," he said, his mouth stretched in a huge smile, a mouse sitting on his head, "We're Cirque de Auldrant's partners."

"Peony asked us to find yous after yous went missing." the short one said, "They can't start that demonstration without yous."

"R-right--I-I'll get right there!" despite the throbbing of his ankle, Luke sprung to his feet,

"Now wait just a--!" a knight started,

"We told you, he's with us." the woman said again. She had pink hair with purple tips, wearing a magenta dress and matching hat,

"I-it doesn't matter who he's _with_!" the second ordered. The woman pulled out a small brown pouch from the bag on her waist,

"This says it _does_ matter who he's with." she said, jingling the bag to demonstrate how much gald was in it.

"Ah..." they looked at one another thoughtfully,

"A b-...a bribe?" Luke mumbled,

"Right, then." one knight said, taking the small pouch, "We'll let 'im off with a warning this time." then the two left.

"You alright, New Guy?" the woman asked, turning back to him, "That cat did quite a number on you." Luke blushed out of embarrassment, then said,

"Y-yeah...Yeah, I-I'm okay."

"Good. Let's get going, then."

"This should teach yous not to wander off from the group next time." the short one said, "Mosta these cities aren't as nice as Barluu."

"You'll get in trouble for most things that you wouldn't expect." the taller one agreed, "Like pulling a poster off a wall, tripping knight, or jaywalking."

"By the way, I'm Noir." the woman said as they began walking, "That's York," she nodded to the taller man. The mouse on his head bowed, "And Urushi." the short man tipped his hat, "We're the leaders of the Dark Wings."

"Now, let's go," Urushi urged, "De ringmaster's waitin'! They can't start the show without yous!"

* * *

Rate and review would be appreciated 8D


	10. 10: Street Performance

Sorry for the eternity between updates...that's my bad. I've been having writers block T-T

and, also, sorry this chapter's so short. But I really wanted to get something up, so...

* * *

While the ringmaster spoke his introduction to the small group of people who'd shown up (a few of which the troupe recognized from the Tavern) Tear healed Luke's ankle. York, Noir and Urushi had departed to walk among the crowd and answer questions that the onlookers may have.

"Stepping on a cat...honestly." Tear sighed as the wounds on his ankle finished closing,

"Heh...sorry..." the redhead apologized, face glowing red with a blush.

"Well, his ankle's better, but the bottom of that pant leg isn't gonna be saved." Anise commented,

"How about you just rip the shredded part off?" Gai suggested, "Then say it's supposed to look like that."

"Good idea." Luke nodded, moving to rip off the hanging shreds.

"Sh!" Erika hissed from where she was peaking around the stack of crates which the actors were hiding behind, "I'm trying to listen for the cue here, guys!"

"Y'know--we've got quite a few interesting talents in Cirque de Auldrant..." Peony's voice said,

"Ready Jade?" she asked. However the Fonist was staring seriously at Luke as the redhead ripped off the shredded lower-portion of his pants. "Jade! Jade--you in there?"  
"Hm?"

"Like...a few interesting magic talents."

"Oh...of course."

"Hey--where's our resident magician, huh?" Peony called back.

"I suppose I can be called the 'resident magician'..." Jade sighed, walking around the crates,

"Hey--there he is." Peony announced with a laugh. "How about you show us a little magic, huh?"

"Good luck, Erika." Natalia whispered with an encouraging thumbs-up,

"Thanks." she whispered back,

"Well I suppose I--"

"Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute, wait a minute!" she ordered, stomping around the crates in a mock-angry matter,

"Oh dear..." Peony said,

"Hey--what're you doing, Peony?"

"O-oh, uh... I- I was just...um..." the Ringmaster had acquired a good talent for faking fear and worry.

"I can cast magic just as well as he can. You know that!"

"Oh please." Jade sighed,

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Y'know--how about you both settle this with a little friendly competition, eh?" Peony asked, "Good for business! You guys wanna see that, right? C'mon, let's hear some cheers!" there was a cheer of approval from the surrounding audience.

"Sure, I'm game." Erika agreed,

"Don't cry to me if you get hurt." Jade warned, "Ready?"

"Bring it on, old man."

----------------

"Are you ready, Anise?" Tear asked. The little girl pressed one of the dolls eyes, and the doll grew to about her size,

"Ready to go." she grinned. As Tear looked towards Natalia, she held up her bow and arrow,

"I am as well." she glanced around the crates, "Jade and Erika's act is almost done, we'll be going on soon."

Once Jade and Erika's little 'act' finished the pair returned to the little hiding place behind the crates; Natalia, Anise and Tear then stepped out to do there show while Peony had begun talking again,

"Perfect." the girl said with a thumbs-up, "Everyone's getting really excited about the performance; I think we're gonna have a packed crowd for our show"

"Good; it means a bigger pay check for us." Asch grunted.

After 'fixing' his pants, Luke avidly watched Tear, Anise and Natalia's small act. They'd interrupted the Ringmasters talking, then begun a small battle. It was similar to what Luke, Gai and Asch were going to do.

"New Guy! Stop watching!" Gai ordered, "Run over the show in your head to make sure you know it--we'll be going on soon."

"R-right!" Luke moved away from the edge of the crates and sat. "Let's see..." he waved his arm like a sword as he mumbled which swing came first and what actions to do with them.

When the three girls came back, Luke jumped up and grabbed his wooden sword.

"Hey! I'm trying to do something here guys!" Peony yelled back in mock annoyance, "Cut it out with the interruptions already!"

"Ready?" Gai asked,

"Yeah...!" Luke nodded,

"Anyway...so we have-" Peony began

"Stop running!" Gai exclaimed.

"Ringmaster!" Luke cried as he ran out from behind the crates,

"Oh what now?"

"He's trying to kill me!" the boy whined, pretending to hide behind the ringmaster,

"Whose trying to--?"

"There you are!" Gai ran out from the crates and charged the ringmaster,

"I'll leave you two to fight!" Peony then quickly moved away and let Gai and Luke get to their makeshift swordfight. Asch then jumped in later in an attempt to break it up, but then became part of it.

After the fight finally came to a close, Peony stepped out again, tossing a small pile of fliers into the air and letting them scatter over the crowd as the three boys hid behind the crates,

"Phew!" Luke panted, sitting down to catch his breath,

"You're already tired?" Anise asked curiously,

"N-no! I mean..." he shook his head, "I mean...it's hard to describe..."

"The adrenaline rush, right?" Tear asked. She laughed lightly, then sighed, "You'll get used to it."

"Be sure to come out and see the real show, alright? Our Dark Wing friends here will take your questions!" Peony exclaimed. Everyone stood to leave and then followed Peony as he headed back in the direction of the circus.

"Hahahaha...that was awesome!" Luke beamed as they walked back towards the circus.

"Glad to see you're so happy, New Guy." Gai commented,

"Man--I never knew you could make people happy so easily..." Luke commented, "All we did was put on a show!"

"That's why we do what we do." Tear said, "It makes people happy to watch us put on our shows. We all enjoy seeing people happy, which is why we're all in this circus together."

"If you don't stop smiling like that, you're face is gonna get stuck." Erika teased.

"Heh..." Wow...he'd never had so much fun, or been so happy, back in Barluu. He was really glad he left; and he knew things would just get better from here on.

----------------

After gathering in the Mess Hall, Peony congratulated them all on a show well done.

"Alright; now, we've got a little over a week till our first show, so we've got a lot of work to do!" he said, "Practice starts first thing tomorrow, right after breakfast!"

"So, you ready for more training today, New Guy?" Gai asked,

"Y-you mean..." Luke asked weakly, they finished in unison,

"The weights."

"Aw man..." he groaned,

"Come on; let's keep up with your training."

"Right...I'm coming."

Once the two had departed, the rest of the crew went to work with the rest of Dark Wings who weren't in town to put the big top back up.

"I...Hate...These...Weights...!" Luke panted, now running after Gai. A formal track hadn't been set up yet, so Luke had to follow Gai. The blonde was leading him in a general oval shape, though sometimes they'd stray away and start making figure-eights around the trailers,

"Yeah. Most people do." Gai laughed lightly, "Don't worry, we're almost done here. We've just gotta go around one more time."

"Ready? PULL!" Luke turned his head curiously towards the area of the circus tent in time to see one of the tall pillars that supported the tent rise into the air. Then the other one rose as well,

"Hey, hey Gai!" Luke asked, willing to run faster when fueled by his curiosity,

"What?" the blonde questioned, somewhat surprised that Luke was keeping up with him,

"How do they get the Tarp up over those poles?"

"Over the...? Oh," Gai had to glance at the tents support-poles before he knew what Luke was talking about, "Jade uses wind magic, and a few of the Dark Wings use magic too."

* * *

I'm working on the next chapter, I promise, just be patient.


	11. 11: Found Out

I haven't submitted in forever. I KNOW.

"Talking"

/_Thinking_\ Just in case anyone forgot

* * *

Luke watched another pole be hoisted into the air, the boxes of bleacher sets being transported into the middle of the ring. He wondered what it would look like to see the big top really go up.

"What does everyone else do?" he asked his blonde friend.

"They nail big iron pegs into the grown to keep the bottom of the tarp down." Gai responded.

"Oooh..."

An hour later, after Luke had collapsed from his training and Gai had a good natured laugh, the two were called into the ring to help pull up the poles that held up the edge of the tent, and also marked where the circus ended. Luke's arms and legs were sore from running, however he helped pull and push the poles up best he could. Ion was running around everywhere with two of the Dark Wings' helpers, they were delivering props into their proper places in the ring, and also bringing in the tightrope to be set up.

The circus performers and a handful of Dark Wings members began setting up the bleachers, however Jade was absent, and Luke wondered why.

"Tarp ahoy!!" a few Dark Wings yelled from where the tarp had been folded accordion style on the ground. The call was echoed by everybody in the ring, and Luke followed suit when the circus performers quickly abandoned the bleachers they'd been setting up. In a large rush of wind that picked up the end of the tarp, the colorful layer was thrown over the top of the poles, multiple smaller gusts of wind pushing the top to keep it up and others pushing the sides out. In an instant they were covered by the big top, and the circus actually looked like a circus.

"Wow..." Luke mumbled,

"New Guy, Tear, Asch," Noir called, stepping into the tarp, "Come out here and help secure the tarp."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Got it."

"Coming!" Luke finished excitedly. He quickly jogged out of the front opening of the tarps, and found Anise standing on the head of two Tokunaga, one on top of the other, tying up one of the corners which made the entrance into the big top. York was on the other side of the opening, also standing on two Tokunaga, tying up the other side.

A Dark Wings member gave him a few large metal stakes and a hammer, telling him to hammer one stake into each metal-lined hole in the tarp that he came across.

Three hours later, everyone was gathered in the mess hall that had been fully assembled while they'd preformed their street show. Luke hadn't even noticed that, in the past few days of coming into the mess hall, that one end, instead of having a wall there, was blocked off by a blue tarp. That served as temporary protection from the weather while the rest of the mess hall was assembled.

"Alright everyone, the big top is up and the bleachers are set. All the props are in place." Peony nodded approvingly, "Tomorrow, we start the New Guy's training on the trapeze, and then we get to working on the show." Everyone voiced their approval of the plan, and Luke was practically bouncing in his seat in excitement.

---

Luke had a hard time going to sleep that night, his mind buzzing hopefully with thoughts of what he would learn.

"Luke." Jade's voice asked right before he managed to fall asleep.

"....?" it took him a moment to realize Jade was talking to _him_. He was so used to being called New Guy (by everyone except Tear) that his real name sounded strange,

"Wh...what?" Luke propped himself up on one elbow, rubbing his eyes with his other hand. He glanced at the digital clock on the wall, situated near the door so that everyone could see it from their beds. The glowing red numbers said '12:05' in blocky digital text. He looked up at Jade groggily, but then noticed that the man was standing there in his full circus uniform, "J...Jade?"

"Come with me." he ordered flatly. The usual fake pleasantness in his voice was gone; his tone completely serious. Luke couldn't see his face due to the darkness, but he could just _tell_ that Jade's expression was completely straight.

"Uh...s-sure." After kicking off the sheets Luke followed Jade out of the trailer. Asch grunted something in his sleep as Luke shut the door, but other than that there was no noise. A few work lights were set out near the big top, glowing with golden light like streetlights, put there by the Dark wings. "Um...wh-what's wrong?" the magician has his back to the younger member, and didn't turn around.

"I wanted you to explain something for me." Jade pulled something out of his pocket; Luke heard the crinkling of paper. He turned back and said, "Explain...The picture on this Poster."

Luke's heart stopped. Jade was holding a poster identical to the one he'd ripped from the wall in Sharlen.

"Well?" the magician stared at him with an expression that was a mix of being angry and not impressed, "This is you, isn't it?"

"I-I...I..." he stuttered, "Jade--"

"I'm waiting." he interrupted.

"I..." his shoulders sagged slightly, "Y...yeah...that's me..."

"I thought so." he folded the poster up again, however he was somewhat startled when Luke grabbed the front of his uniform,

"Jade, please! I'm begging you, don't tell anybody!" he asked weakly, "Please, I don't want anyone else to know about me!"

"....." Jade blinked once, staring down at him.

"I-I'm trying to avoid the soldiers and stay out of trouble, really! I-I'll do anything, just please don't tell anyone!" his mouth twitched to a very slight smirk,

"I never said I would tell anyone." Luke stared at him, wide eyed, "I merely asked if the person on the poster was you."

"A-ah...?"  
"You assumed too much." Jade pushed Luke's hands from the front of his uniform. As he began heading back to the trailer, "Ah...but you're a bit late." Luke stiffened,

"Wh-what?"

"I've already told the ringmaster."

"What-!?" his voice rose a few octaves in pitch,

"He'll probably want to talk to you tomorrow, however I doubt he'll go sharing that piece of information." Jade then went back into the trailer, saying a simple 'Goodnight' over his shoulder before he closed the door.

Luke clutched at his hair, squeezing his eyes shut.

No, no, no, no, no!! Nobody was supposed to find out...! Nobody was supposed to know... They weren't supposed to know that he was...

He sank to his knees. Despite Jade's assurances that neither he nor Peony would say anything, it still wasn't supposed to be like this. Nobody was supposed to know what Luke really was...

"Hey New Guy," Erika knocked him in the back lightly, "I know Natalia isn't the best cook but you gotta eat something." Luke poked the almost over-cooked eggs around his plate wordlessly, "...New Guy?"

"Lemme alone..." he mumbled,

".....Okay." she mumbled, straightening and stepping away from him to put her plate in the sink,

"Alright everyone; the Dark Wings are done with the Big Top." Peony said, "The first few shows are the same as they were at Barluu; go freshen up your memories." everyone filed out except Luke; he could feel the eyes of the other circus members on him briefly however they all left anyway, "So. Luke." Peony leaned against the edge of the table next to him,

"...yeah?" he asked weakly,

"You're the noble that's gone missing."

"......yeah..." his voice was a whisper. Peony sighed,

"Well this is quite the pickle you've gotten me in. I could be arrested if I don't turn you in."

"I know..." he moaned, clutching at his head,

"So you better not get caught."

"..." Luke opened his eyes and stared up at Peony, "Wha...?"

"I won't get in trouble if you don't get caught." the Ringmaster said, "Simple as that. So, think you can stay out of trouble until this whole 'Missing Noble' thing calms down?"

"S...Sur...Yes!" Luke's eyes brightened considerably, "Yes! I can! I will, I promise."

"Good." Peony grinned, "Now, get in the big top! Asch and Natalia are waiting to teach you the routine."

"Y-yes sir!!"

* * *

Wonder what's gonna happen now? 


	12. 12: Practice, Practice, Practice

I am aware that I haven't updated in a while .  
Sorry!!

* * *

"Okay, now swing your body with the trapeze." Natalia instructed. Luke did what she said, throwing his body with the swing of the trapeze. "Now throw your lower body over the bar." Luke gained more momentum for a moment before pulling his legs up and bringing them back over the bar, "Now bring up one leg..." He put one leg over the bar, bending his knee over it, then put his other over too; he let his lower body hang, and held out his hands,

"I got it this time! Jump, Natalia!" it'd been two days since Peony promised to keep Luke's identity a secret. He'd been practicing on the trapeze almost nonstop for the past two days, almost skipping meals. He'd learned how to jump from bar to bar cleanly (he was now working on doing a flip when he jumped) and he'd almost perfected swinging around the bar to support himself over it instead of hanging under it. Now he was working on quickly getting to hanging upside down and catching someone and tossing them to the next trapeze.

"Are you sure?" Natalia asked,

"Positive. I've really got it this time." Luke assured. Natalia patted her hands into a small bowl of ground chalk before taking a step back and getting ready. When Luke's swing came close to the platform again, she bounded off and leapt into the air like a ballerina. Her hands grabbed his wrists, and Luke clamped his hands around her wrists as well; he tightened his legs on the bar when the added weight hit him. He faltered slightly, his legs almost coming off the bar,

"Are you alright?" Natalia asked,

"Y-yeah, yeah, I got it." he assured.

"Alright then." Natalia swung her legs to get the momentum of their swing up, "Let go...now!" Luke released her wrists a second too late, and Natalia's fly through the air wasn't as graceful as it usually was; however, she caught the next bar none the less.

"How was that?" Luke asked, feeling the blood rushing to his head,

"That was good." Natalia smiled, jumping to the next bar, and then to the opposite platform, "You're getting a lot better, New Guy." Luke grinned as he reached up for the bar. After grabbing onto it, he straightened his legs and pulled them from over the bar, hanging straight down again. He worked up another swing and jumped to the platform. He stumbled on the landing, but caught himself on the big-top support pole that the ladders were attached to.

"Natalia, New Guy!" Anise's voice called, "Time for lunch! Come down!"

"New Guy?" Natalia asked,

"Be there in a minute." Luke responded. He climbed down from the trapeze, watching the bars get further away as he climbed down. After getting to the ground he stretched his arms over his head.

"I was wondering who the new addition to this circus was..." a man's voice said.

"Huh?" he looked to the entrance to the tent to see a man standing there. He had a triangular beard, large bushy eyebrows and brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail. "Uh...I-I'm sorry but you can't be...in here." Luke stated semi-awkwardly. He'd never told anybody to get out of anywhere before. "You have to leave."

"I was just scoping out the competition." he responded, "My name is Van."

"Van...?" Luke mumbled, "I'm Luke."

"How long have you been here?" Van asked, walking to the middle of the ring where Luke was standing,

"Just a few weeks."

"You look like you've got a lot of potential, you know."

"R-really?" the redhead asked hopefully, "Yeah...that's what the Ringmaster told m--"

"New Guy! What the hell are you doing?!" Luke was abruptly thrown back, and Van jumped away, avoiding a sword and a fist.

"I see you two still resent me, Erika, Asch."

"Get out." Asch ordered flatly, sword raised.

"Asch! Erika!" the rest of the troupe ran into the tent, "Van!?" weapons were suddenly out, the whole troupe standing between Luke and Van.

"What are you doing here, Van?" Anise demanded, "Spying?!"

"Just seeing your new addition." he responded.

"Van...You're not welcome here." Tear said with a bit of difficulty, "You're part of the God's Circus. Leave."

"Th-the God's Circus?!" Luke yelped, jumping up, "Y-You didn't say you were from the God's Circus!" Van merely smirked,

"Wipe that smirk off your face." Asch ordered.

"Get out Van, or we'll _make_ you leave." Erika added. Van chuckled in response.

"I can see that I'm not wanted." he stated, then turned and left.

"Asch, Erika." Jade said, "I know you two are angry, but you have to calm down."

"I _am_ calm." Asch muttered before storming out of the tent.

"I'll...I'll go with him." Natalia said before jogging after him.

"New Guy!" Anise exclaimed, "What were you doing talking to Van like that?"

"I-I didn't know!" he argued, "I thought he was somebody from town!"

"What?! That's Van Grants! He's the main actor in the God's Circus!" she said.

"I didn't know!" Luke was yelling, "I didn't know who he was! I didn't know what he wanted! I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to talk to him, but how was I supposed to know?!"

"Easy, New Guy." Guy sighed. He shook his head, "Yeah, you didn't know...but you do now. Don't talk to him anymore, alright?"

"Fine...!" he said, almost exasperated.

Practice was uneasy for the rest of the day, Asch's already short temper was practically gone, and Erika seemed to be easily angered as well.

"Why're they still so mad?" Luke mumbled to Tear as practice was drawing to a close.

"Asch was once part of Van's circus," Tear explained, "But he left after only being with that circus for a month, and came here. He's never explained why he left, but he obviously doesn't like Van now."

"What about Erika, then?"

"The biggest thing is that the God's Circus' financer, a man named Mohs, absolutely _hates_ her." she said, "Peony has said that Mohs once tried to kill her."

"What?!" Tear shrugged,

"I don't know if that's true, but..."

"Why?"

"Nobody knows."

"Hm..."

Jade cooked dinner that night and Guy and Anise did their best to try and lighten the gloomy mood over the troupe by cracking a few jokes about how Jade might have been drugging their food with experimental medicines. These jokes cheered Erika up a bit, but Asch was determined to scowl angrily at everyone and mutter under his breath. As everyone finished dinner Peony stood.

"As I've come to understand it, Van came to our circus today."

"He was trying to figure out our new act." Anise told him. Peony gathered a small stack of paper and threw it at Luke.

"New Guy, look at these. These are the God Circus members." Luke looked down at the pile of photos. The top was a picture of a blonde woman. 'Legretta. Sharpshooter Extraordinaire'. The next was a pink haired girl who appeared to be about Anise's age, 'Arietta. The Liger Tamer'. The next a white haired man with small glasses; Luke recognized him as the man that had been attempting to spy on them back near Barluu, 'Dist. Creator of Mechanical Wonders.' The next one looked somewhat like Ion, though a gold and red masked covered the boys face. 'Sync. The Daredevil'. Next was a large man with purple hair, 'Largo. The Strong man.' The last one was Van, 'Van. The Cosmic Swordsman'. Luke decided to help lighten the mood by making a comment criticizing the circus.

"Cosmic Swordsman? Really?" he asked.

"I think they were running out of interesting names." Anise giggled.

Luke grumbled under his breath, wondering if he would be able to _survive_ that long..........

* * *

DU DU DUNNN The God's Circus is now known!!!


End file.
